In the first debate in the House of Lords since the outcome of the EU Referendum, Lord Bilimoria lamented the spirit in which the Referendum was held. He noted the inaccuracies in the statistics used during the campaign and suggested that the Electoral Commission should be granted new powers to police against misleading campaign material. Lord Bilimoria then outlined the implications of the Referendum, including on the economy and in the Higher Education sector, and stressed the need for caution on triggering Article 50 until the UK had entered into negotiations with the EU to determine what Brexit would entail.
As President of the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA), Lord Bilimoria gave the opening keynote speech at the UKCISA Annual Conference 2016 on 29th June. In his speech he highlighted the benefits that international students bring to the UK, from economic prosperity, to soft power, to international competitiveness, and reflected on the current political narrative on international students relating to visas, net migration targets, access to work, skills and talent. The potential future development of these policies – especially considering the EU Referendum result – were considered, as was the burning question of the day, where next for the UK’s international student strategy?
A video of his speech is available here
In an interview with David Watts for Asian Affairs magazine Lord Bilimoria referenced his own background as an immigrant to demonstrate the damaging nature of Britain’s current immigration policy. He noted the negative consequences of the government’s approach to immigration, such as its impact on the UK’s Higher Education and curry industries, and stressed that the government’s flawed approach, championed by Theresa May, is destroying Britain’s future business success potential.
Yesterday, Lord Bilimoria spoke about the government’s planned proposals to increase productivity in the UK in a debate in the House of Lords. Titled: Fixing the foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation, the government’s productivity plan stressed the need for Britain to boost productivity and advocated a series of reforms designed to bolster long term investment and create a more dynamic economy. Speaking in the debate, Lord Bilimoria welcomed plans to make the UK more attractive to inward investment but lamented the lack of action that the government has taken on funding for research and development. He also quizzed the Minister, Lord O’Neill of Gatley, about the level of support that the government is providing to quickly growing businesses to scale up their operations.
Lord Bilimoria, Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, recently spoke about the need to invest in higher education in the UK in an article for the Telegraph. He stressed the discrepancy in funding received by US universities, compared to their UK counterparts, and argued that the neglect of Britain’s universities has contributed to the productivity gap currently facing the UK.
Lord Bilimoria today responded to the Government’s last Budget Statement of this Parliament during a debate in the House of Lords. In his speech, he acknowledged the importance of the Government’s austerity agenda to the UK’s long-term prosperity, but stressed that more investment is needed in areas like higher education and research and development, to improve the nation’s productivity, while noting the severity of the Government’s austerity programme on the UK’s growth rate during this Parliament.
Speaking in the House of Lords on Thursday, Lord Bilimoria addressed a number of issues raised by the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement – the penultimate finance statement ahead of next May’s General Election. Lord Bilimoria criticised the slow pace of deficit reduction and missed economic targets by the coalition – whilst also speaking in favour of tax reform, increased government support for research and development and expressing concern at funding levels for the British Armed Forces.
Lord Bilimoria has spoken out against the government’s higher education policy, specifically with regards to restrictions placed upon international students in the United Kingdom.
The following article was published on the New Statesman’s “The Staggers’ blog on Monday 1st September.
Founded in 1913, the New Statesman is one of the most well-respected current affairs magazines in the United Kingdom.
The British public do not see international students as “immigrants” and are opposed to reducing the number coming here, even if this would make it harder to reduce immigration numbers, according to new research released today by Universities UK and think-tank British Future.Lord Bilimoria, a former international student and the Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, issued the following statement about the report’s findings;
Speaking in response to the Queen’s Speech, Lord Bilimoria strongly criticised the government’s continued failure to reform the immigration system and to support international students and higher education failure to understand the tremendous economic and social values that international students bring to the United Kingdom, citing research by the National Union of Students, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, and the Judge Business School.
Lord Bilimoria also criticised the failure of the government to introduce exit-checks as British ports of entry, as well as the negative response to the mooted “Visitor Bond” system, which was scrapped last year after public outcry.