Migrants Safe and Legal Routes 2026-01-05

2026-01-05

TAGS
Response quality

Questions & Answers

Q1 Direct Answer
Tom Rutland Lab
East Worthing and Shoreham
Context
The MP expressed concern about balancing safe and legal migration with border security.
I am proud of our country’s history of offering refuge to those fleeing persecution and want this to continue, as do many of my constituents in East Worthing and Shoreham. Can the Home Secretary set out how she will establish safe and legal routes for people while taking action to secure our borders from the criminal gangs profiting from dangerous small boat crossings?
Alongside restoring order and control of our borders, we will open new safe and legal routes for refugees and displaced people who are fleeing danger. We are currently developing routes for refugee students and workers alongside a community sponsorship route. A cap will be set each year in Parliament, and further details on the design of these routes will be set out in due course.
Assessment & feedback
Response accuracy
Q2 Partial Answer
Perran Moon Lab
Camborne and Redruth
Context
The MP met care workers who are already part-way through the five-year leave-to-remain qualification process, expressing concerns about immigration policy changes affecting the care sector.
Before Christmas, I met care workers from my Camborne, Redruth and Hayle constituency who came to the UK through legal routes. They shared with me their anxieties about the changes to immigration policies affecting the care sector and other key worker sectors. Specifically for migrants who are already part-way through the five-year leave-to-remain qualification process, working and paying their taxes in the UK now, can the Secretary of State confirm when the new fast-track leave to remain process will be established following the end of the 12 February consultation?
Safe and legal routes relate to those who we would accept as refugees before they enter this country, in order to drive down the number of people who seek to enter the country illegally. My hon. Friend refers to routes for people who come to this country to work. It is right that we acknowledge, as we have done in our planned reforms to settlement, that settlement in this country is a privilege that has to be earned, not a right. It is perfectly proper for this country to be able to set the rules for how settlement is earned. Previous considerations about how many people might arrive through particular routes in order to work have shown that more people have arrived than anticipated, and therefore it is right that we change our approach; the discussion about care workers is particularly pertinent to that point. We are consulting on how those changes are delivered—as he rightly points out, that consultation ends on 12 February—and we will then set out our proposals for delivering our reforms.
Assessment & feedback
The response focused more on the need for earned settlement and less on confirming a specific date or process for fast-track leave to remain.
Under Review
Response accuracy