Ben Goldsborough MP: speeches

Speeches

• 9 Mar 2026 · Immigration Policy · Hansard source

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  South Norfolk expects our immigration system to be fair, open and transparent. The one problem we have come across, unfortunately, is that there is a lot of confusion online, as has been expertly shown by the shadow Home Secretary today. Can the Minister clarify that the process we are looking at will save the taxpayer £20 million, instead of spending money to keep open asylum hotels?

• 25 Nov 2025 · Immigration Reforms: Humanitarian Visa Routes · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (James Naish) for securing this important debate. I think there is wide agreement across the House that our current immigration system is broken. It is inconsistent, confusing and, far too often, inhumane. It is right that it falls to a Labour Government to fix it and to build a system grounded in our values of fairness, transparency and humanity. At present, the system does the very opposite. I will specifically speak about Hongkongers who settled in the UK through the British national overseas visa scheme, many of whom have become proud and valued members of my constituency. We estimate that about 400 BNO status holders now call South Norfolk home. They enrich our towns and villages through work, volunteering, culture and the arts, and they have shown extraordinary resilience after fleeing political persecution. Following Beijing’s imposition of the national security law and its severe crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong, all parties in this House supported the launch of the BNO pathway in 2021. Over 200,000 Hongkongers have since arrived in the UK, rebuilding their lives under the terms we set out. In September, concern filled this Chamber during the debate I led on behalf of the Petitions Committee. The consultation launched on 20 November has exposed new risks that could inadvertently undermine the BNO scheme’s very humanitarian purpose. Let me be clear: if applied to BNO applicants for indefinite leave to remain, an income requirement would disproportionately disadvantage BNO families. The visa route is fundamentally different from a work visa. It was never designed around employment. People came here as families with stay-at-home parents, part-time workers, students and retirees. Their eligibility depended on need, not on earning power. Many of them face systemic barriers to having their professional qualifications recognised, preventing them from securing jobs that reflect their skills immediately upon arrival. They are not failing the system; the system is failing them. To require three to five years of earnings above £12,570 would not reflect their reality. Many BNO households are income-poor but savings-rich. They moved here under the explicit promise that no financial conditions would be attached to this humanitarian route. The proposed increase from B1 to B2 English has caused deep worry among BNOs, particularly those nearing retirement or who have already earned their B1 qualification and are months away from eligibility for settlement. B2 is effectively A-level proficiency. For many, achieving it with only months’ notice is unrealistic, and I hazard a guess that it would be unrealistic for many Members of this House as well. We must be cautious not to retroactively impose standards that people could never reasonably meet in that time. Above all, BNOs are not economic migrants; they made an irreversible decision to come to the UK to escape political repression. For many, returning to Hong Kong is not an option. If we were to shift the goalposts now, we would risk placing them in an impossible position —unable to settle here or return home. That would be a betrayal not only of policy, but of principle. I urge the Minister to listen to the speeches today and to make the progressive changes we need in the immigration system.

• 17 Nov 2025 · Asylum Policy · Hansard source

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  South Norfolk expects to have a robust and compassionate asylum process. I welcome this statement. One of the aspects that I am most interested in is the penultimate paragraph on page 28 of the document, which states: “The new model will give greater say to communities and support refugees” to settle and become self-sufficient. Will the Home Secretary expand on the mechanisms that could be put in place to ensure that that happens?

• 11 Sept 2025 · Biosecurity at the Border: Britain’s Illegal Meat Crisis · Hansard source

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  I congratulate and thank the Committee for this valuable work. Biosecurity is national security. The pork industry is worth £1.8 billion a year, and the sector is vital to Norfolk, particularly South Norfolk. As others have said, it is estimated that an outbreak of African swine fever would cost £100 million. Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that, in our efforts to protect UK biosecurity, we need also to focus on small ports and airports as places of weakness?

• 8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered e-petitions 727360 and 727356 relating to the qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Jeremy. The excellent staff on the Petitions Committee have been as diligent as ever; thanks to their hard work, I have had some very informative meetings with experts and campaign groups. I want to quickly thank the Migration Observatory, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, Hong Kong Watch and the Centre for Policy Studies for taking the time to discuss the policy with me. I also want to thank Darwin, the creator of the petition entitled “Keep the 5-Year ILR pathway for existing Skilled Worker visa holders”, for the fascinating and moving conversation that we had last week. Before I turn to the detail, I want to say why today’s debate matters. It is timely because the public discourse on immigration grows louder, fuelled by the algorithms of X and Facebook. We also see those who peddle the idea that you can have your cake and eat it: lower migration, but without the consequences to our economy, our NHS, our diplomacy or our culture. They are charlatans trying to hoodwink the public with slogans on the sides of buses. They want to divide us and set the tone that all immigration is bad and, by extension, that all migrants are unwelcome. But that is not our country. That is not who we are. The moral compass of the vast majority of Britons points firmly in the other direction. This debate is our chance to show that careful deliberation is needed. Managed migration, done well, strengthens us. It grows our economy, it enriches our culture and it gives us the diplomatic heft to punch above our weight on the world stage. First, I want to address one specific point. Experts have raised with me multiple times the need for a clear and honest conversation about what these changes mean, and the need for a clear distinction between immigration pathways and the different types of immigration. Let us be clear at the start about what we have and have not been asked to discuss today. We are not here to debate asylum claims, the graduate route, small boats or ancestry visas. The 164,000 and 108,000 people who signed the two petitions are asking us to consider two precise things: the five-year pathway for existing skilled worker visa holders and the five-year pathway for Hong Kong British national overseas visas. Let me turn first to skilled workers. There are three issues to get to grips with, the first of which is fairness to those who are already here. The skilled worker visa pathway was introduced only in December 2020, and many people are now close to completing their five years. Some are just months away.

• 8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for his intervention. I know that the Minister will have been listening to his point. When Hongkongers tell us that they are worried about the direction of travel, we must listen, because they have already lived it. They know what it means when promises are broken; they know what it means when the state decides to rewrite the rules halfway through the journey. That is why this debate is not just about visa terms. It is about trust and about whether Britain will stand by its word. We in this country have always had a proud tradition of standing up to international bullies. When others looked away, Britain was often prepared to say, “No, this is not right. We will not let you trample over your people.” That tradition is written into our history, from our stance against fascism in Europe to our support for democratic movements across the world. The BNO scheme is part of that tradition. It told the people of Hong Kong, “You are not alone. Britain will stand with you.”

• 8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes an extremely good point. As I said at the start, migration managed well benefits us all. That is what I understand the Government are trying to achieve, and that is one thing that we need to support. The prospect of applying changes retrospectively has caused huge anxiety. For people who have uprooted their family, made financial sacrifices and planned their future on the basis of clear rules, it feels—as one person put it to me—like “running a marathon and halfway through realising the rules have changed”.

• 8 Sept 2025 · Indefinite Leave to Remain · Hansard source

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  I am just about to make my concluding remarks. Both petitions speak to a single principle: fairness. People who came here on a clear set of rules deserve to know what those rules are and that they will not change halfway through. Whether those people are skilled workers staffing our hospitals or Hongkongers seeking refuge from oppression, they are already contributing enormously to our country. In all the discussions about immigration, we must start with honesty about the different types of migration and what they mean for Britain. In recent years, there has been too much heat and not enough light. Today’s debate is a chance for us to change that. I hope that the Minister will take the opportunity to provide that clarity.