Member

The noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, is seeking to allow more people to come in and that creates a problem. Again, I have said that we recognise that, so I find myself in the position today of wanting to reassure the House that the Government fully support the principle of family unity, share the concerns regarding families that have been separated by conflict or persecution, and actually have a very proud record of allowing refugee family reunion to take place. Some 67,933 individuals were reunited with their families over the past decade, including by the previous Government, who are today apparently seeking to tighten the very rules that they allowed to operate over the past 10 years.