UK should take ‘one in, one out’ approach to immigration, Reform UK MP suggests

The UK should take a “one in, one out” approach to immigration, Reform UK’s deputy leader has suggested, as MPs rejected calls to temporarily suspend all forms of immigration.

Richard Tice proposed a “net zero immigration” policy to MPs and argued that “with competence”, legal migration could be “sortable”.

This came as MPs debated a petition calling for a “tougher approach” to immigration, including pausing legal and illegal migration to the UK for five years.

“That’s the issue of legal migration it should actually, with competence and delivery, be sortable. But the British people are very anxious about the pressures on housing and public services, and that’s driven by the pressures of population growth.”

The Boston and Skegness MP added: “The population growth is too great, we can’t cope with our existing population and there is a need for pause.

“Now, a policy of net zero immigration, one in, one out, there’s about 400,000 people (who) leave the UK every year, you could welcome a similar number, and that will sort of ebb and flow.

“As long as it’s highly skilled, highly qualified, where we’ve got shortages, as we train our own people.”

Elsewhere in the debate, Labour MP Jacob Collier said following through with the petition’s calls would “make Liz Truss look like a saint”.

The MP for Burton and Uttoxeter said: “If we were to follow what the petitioners are asking for, we would make Liz Truss look like a saint, and suck out that rich cultural tapestry that makes our country so great.

“Migrants make up a fifth of our workforce, the NHS alone relies on more than 160,000 staff from overseas. Suspend all immigration tomorrow, and who will fill these roles? Who will care for our sick, work on our buses … or staff our hospitality sector?”

Intervening, Reform UK MP Lee Anderson (Ashfield) said: “He asks who will fill the skills gap or the labour gap, how about the seven million people who are economically inactive in this country?”

Mr Collier replied: “It is our Government’s plan to train up more British people and get them into places like the healthcare and other sectors.”

Labour MP Dave Robertson argued that ending all migration is not the “silver bullet” to “fix” issues such as healthcare waiting times, employment levels, or the economy.

“I think it tells us something about how Brits are feeling about our country, speaks to everything that the UK has to offer that so many people want to choose to have their lives here and share in our British values.

“But it’s hard for some people to feel proud and optimistic about that when they look around and see shut shops, where jobs in their towns, city or village don’t pay well, despite the long hours, if you can’t see a doctor or a dentist, or if you can’t afford to pay your rent, or even dream of buying a house.

“Fixing those problems is hard and is complicated. Ending immigration is a policy choice that somebody, a government can choose to make that, but it won’t be silver bullet to fix all of those.”

The MP for Lichfield also argued that migrants “don’t take jobs from a fixed pool” and the impact migration has on the economy is “quite small”.

Home Office minister Dan Jarvis said: “Our borders need to be secure and the rules will be enforced, as we have seen over recent years, when that doesn’t happen, the consequences are severe. Equally, legal migration has benefitted our country in all sorts of ways.”

He added: “The issues come when the numbers become unsustainable and the system lacks order and control.

“Now I would respectfully make the point to the petitioners therefore that the answers to these challenges lies not in the closure of borders, or the suspension of immigration, but in making sure our approach is fair and effective and firmly in the national interest.”