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The Conservative MP Katie Lam was “broadly in line” with party policy when she called for very large numbers of legally settled people to be deported from the UK, Kemi Badenoch’s spokesperson has said.
Setting out Tory plans to retrospectively strip the right of indefinite leave to remain (ILR) from people who claim benefits, the spokesperson said this would not be the case for people getting the state pension, but he was unable to say whether someone could be deported if they received statutory maternity pay or shared parental leave.
Speaking after prime minister’s questions, he said the key to whether or not someone was deported was if they were a “net contributor” in terms of tax and benefits, even though the party’s policy says this would happen if someone on ILR receives “any form of social protection”, an official term covering most benefits.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Lam, a Home Office shadow minister and Tory whip, said many people would need to lose their ILR status in order to ensure the UK is mostly “culturally coherent”, prompting criticism from other parties.
Asked about Lam’s comments, Badenoch’s spokesperson said some had been “pulled out of context”. He said: “She said there are a large number of people who came to this country legally but shouldn’t have been able to do so. The leader of the opposition agrees with that.”
Highlighting the party’s plan to strip ILR from people who receive benefits, who commit a crime or whose income falls below £38,700 for six months or longer, he said: “I think that’s broadly in line with what Katie said and that is the Conservative party policy.”
Asked about the morality of retrospectively changing the rules when people could have spent years or decades building a life in the UK they believed was permanent, he said: “The Conservative party is clear that immigration was too high under successive governments. We need to bring that down. We need to stop this conveyor belt to British citizenship, and that means getting tough on certain areas.”
He went on: “The point is about being a net contributor. We want people in this country who are, who share our values and want, who want to contribute, who don’t want to just take out without putting in.”
Asked whether the idea of net contribution meant people who had paid taxes for years but then needed benefits briefly would be deported, as set out in an “immigration and visas bill” published by the Tories, the spokesperson indicated that this remained to be seen.
“There are always going to be fringe cases, and the policy will need to be designed very carefully,” he said. “The policy will need to be written very carefully to avoid any sort of complete unfairness.”
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Asked if people could be deported even if they had a UK national spouse or children, he said: “Let me come back to you on that.”
Anna Turley, the Labour party chair, said: “It’s utterly grotesque that the Tories want to deport people with the lawful right to be here to achieve ‘cultural coherence’. This policy would mean tearing families apart and ripping out our neighbours from communities. That’s Tory party policy and shows how far the party has fallen. The Tories haven’t learned a thing.”
The Conservative party was contacted for further comment.
