Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mike Tapp and Carla Denyer

Monday 9th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Carla Denyer (Bristol Central) (Green)]

5. What assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to indefinite leave to remain on the number of people living in poverty.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mike Tapp)]

We understand how important the details of the proposals are to people, and that is precisely why the Government opened a public consultation to gather views on those proposals. Once the consultation closes, we will analyse those responses, which will help to inform the development of the final earned settlement model. We have also committed to publishing the impact assessments for the settlement proposals, as well as the Government’s response to the consultation.

[Carla Denyer]

Some 300,000 children living legally in the UK will face a decade of living in limbo under the Government’s earned settlement proposals, according to new research out this week by the Institute for Public Policy Research. Those children’s wait for settled immigration status will be extended by at least five years, during which many families will face no-recourse-to-public-funds restrictions, and we know that that raises the risk of homelessness and destitution. How does the Minister reconcile that poverty-increasing measure with the Government’s new child poverty strategy, which states:

“Reducing child poverty is a moral imperative”?