here - United Kingdom Parliament

1719 Student Visas
6 JUNE 2013
Student Visas
1720
it. We as politicians are sometimes guilty of telling
people what they want to hear, but this is actually quite
an uncomfortable message because in reality, the world
in which we live is not easy and Britain has to earn its
living within it.
As well as congratulating the three Members who
have spoken so far, I express sympathy for the Minister,
for whom I have a high regard. It is his job to balance
the Government’s overall mission with what the hon.
Member for West Bromwich West acknowledged is our
clear task of addressing the public’s concern about
levels of migration into this country in recent years—not
an easy thing to do. When my constituents communicate
with me they sometimes seem to think that the challenges
we face are easy to resolve, but the reality of politics is
that a lot of these issues are difficult and sometimes
point us in conflicting directions. There is also a fundamental
conflict between the need in electoral politics for simplicity
of message when trying to communicate what our party
would do in government, and the complexity of the
issues we need to deal with—that point was alluded to
in some of the earlier speeches.
Let me say a little about what my constituents think
about immigration, which I think is relevant to the
debate. I represent a part of south London that is
changing rapidly demographically, and it will not be
long before no ethnic community is in a majority in the
London borough of Croydon, nor will it ever be again.
Migration is an issue of real concern to my constituents,
particularly because the UK Border Agency has a significant
presence in Croydon in Lunar house. Many of my
constituents have recently been through the asylum or
immigration processes, and I have several thousand
constituents who worked for the two units into which
the agency has been broken. A lot of my constituents
are concerned about the pace of change, and I spend a
lot of time talking to them on the doorstep about those
concerns. However, I have never heard a constituent
express to me a concern about bright people from
around the world coming to study at our universities, or
about international companies that want to invest in the
UK and create businesses, bringing some of their managers
and employees to the UK as part of that investment
into our economy.
However, I hear a lot of concern about low-skill
migration into the EU, which many of my constituents
believe—rightly or wrongly—has made it more difficult
for them or their children to get work and has depressed
wages in sectors of our economy. There is a great deal of
concern about unlimited migration from within the EU,
and the effect of allowing into the EU countries from
eastern Europe, which I strongly support—the concern
is about the principle of free movement when the EU
incorporates a series of states that are at different levels
economically.
There is also huge concern about our failure to
control our borders effectively. When I report to my
constituents on the Government’s progress in reducing
net migration, they are almost universally inclined not
to believe the figures, because their perception is that
the figures do not include people who are here illegally.
On migration policy, therefore, I am most keen for the
Government to take more action than they are taking
to deal with people who are in this country who should
not be here.
Nicola Blackwood (Oxford West and Abingdon) (Con):
Will my hon. Friend give way?
Gavin Barwell: I certainly will.
Nicola Blackwood: Does my hon. Friend agree—
Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle): Order. The
hon. Lady has just walked into the Chamber. Normally
Members would give it a little bit longer before they
intervene. On this occasion she can do so, if Mr Barwell
wants to give way.
Gavin Barwell indicated assent.
Nicola Blackwood: I apologise, Mr Deputy Speaker.
You are very kind, as is my hon. Friend.
Does my hon. Friend agree that the introduction of
exit checks could be important? In that way, we would
know not only how many people are coming into the
country, but how many people are going out. One of
our biggest problems in developing immigration policy
is poor data.
Gavin Barwell: That is something we could consider.
The key is building public confidence in the system.
Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab): Will
the hon. Gentleman give way?
Gavin Barwell: If I can make progress, I will come
back to the hon. Gentleman.
I will not go into too much detail on students because
the previous hon. Members who made speeches set the
situation out clearly, but the UK gains four clear benefits
from international students, the first of which is economic.
We have heard the figures for the UK as a whole, but the
Mayor of London’s office tells me that the economic
benefit to London, my city, is about £2.5 billion a year.
The second benefit is to the experience of our students
when they are at university. I was lucky enough to
attend the university of Cambridge, and can attest to
the benefit I gained from studying with pupils from
around the world.
The third benefit, which my hon. Friend the Member
for Beckenham (Bob Stewart) strongly communicated,
is to what is frequently referred to as the UK’s soft
power. A 2011 Select Committee on Home Affairs
report identified that 27 foreign Heads of State had
been educated in the UK. That is a difficult benefit to
quantify, but an important one to this country.
Chris Bryant: Unfortunately, that includes the Head
of State of Syria.
Gavin Barwell: It does include Syria—clearly, educating
Heads of State will not be a benefit universally, but the
hon. Gentleman would agree that, in general, having
people in leading positions in foreign countries, whether
in Governments, the diplomatic service, the military or
the business community, is a benefit to the UK.
Mr Jim Cunningham: Will the hon. Gentleman give
way?