A SENIOR Conservative MP has urged ministers to consider blocking permanent residency for migrants who receive more in welfare support than they contribute.
The call followed claims that almost 350,000 foreign-born families could receive additional benefits after the government ended the two-child cap in last month’s budget, The Times reported.
Figures showed that a third of households with three or more children were foreign-born and could be affected by the change. Almost 200,000 such households were from ten countries, with Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Somalia among the largest groups.
Nick Timothy, the MP for West Suffolk and a former Downing Street adviser, said the figures highlighted the need to link settlement rights to tax and welfare records.
In a letter to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, he wrote: “Nobody who comes here on a time-limited visa and is expected to become a net recipient of public funds should be allowed to stay in Britain permanently.”
Timothy questioned why low-skilled migrants who were “net fiscal recipients” were still offered a pathway to indefinite leave to remain after 15 years. He said: “You have to ask whose side this government is on.”
He argued that ministers were increasing welfare spending “while making working families pay the price”, and said research showed beneficiaries “will disproportionately be immigrant families who have never paid into the system”.
The government said the two-child cap change will cost £3 billion and lift 450,000 children out of poverty.
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News that the move should be seen as “an investment opportunity”.
The government said its reforms will make migrants relying on benefits wait 20 years for settlement.
