We are clear that uncontrolled immigration makes it difficult to maintain social cohesion, puts pressure on public services and can drive down wages for people on low incomes.<\/p>
That is why across government we are working hard to bring net migration down and address the factors which draw people to the UK for the wrong reasons. This government has clamped down on nearly 800 bogus colleges, slashed 45,000 visas from the further education route; and cut family visas by nearly a third since it came to power. Our reforms have cut net migration from outside the EU by nearly a quarter since 2010 \u2013 close to levels not seen since the late 1990s.<\/p>
Our reforms have also made it more difficult for EU migrants to claim benefits in the UK and, through the landmark Immigration Act, made it tougher for illegal immigrants to remain by restricting access to work, housing, benefits, healthcare, bank accounts and driving licences and making it easier to remove those who have no right to be here by reducing the number of appeals.<\/p>
On 28 November the Prime Minister made a speech in which he set out a number of measures a future Conservative Government would take to address EU migration to the UK. The measures proposed include a four year residency requirement before an EU national can access in-work benefits or social housing in the UK, the removal of child benefit for non-resident children of EU nationals, and stronger powers to deport EU criminals and tackle abuse.<\/p>
<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1091", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Bates"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Bates"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2014-12-10", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2014-12-10T14:07:17.4Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2014-10-30", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Population"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty\u2019s Government what policies they have to reduce the population size of the United Kingdom.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2479", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Laird"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Laird"} ], "uin" : "HL2541"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 1, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }