Alistair Strathern
Main Page: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Hitchin)Department Debates - View all Alistair Strathern's debates with the Home Office
(3Â days ago)
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Shabana Mahmood
Under this Government, small boat returns have increased. This is a crisis that began on the Conservative Government’s watch and got worse under the Conservative party; this Government are fixing the mess that they left behind.
Alistair Strathern (Hitchin) (Lab)
We inherited a situation in which gangs were profiting from our out-of-control borders and hotel operators were ripping us off, making the most of a backlog that had built up far too high. We have taken some welcome steps, but it is clear that more needs to be done. Returning people with no right to be here is a crucial part of that. How can we step up the processing of cases, and form closer links with other countries, so that we get strong returns agreements and finally get the costs of this out-of-control system down?
Shabana Mahmood
My hon. Friend is right that we need to maximise the numbers we are returning from this country. He will know that asylum-related returns are at their highest level since 2010. This Government have made excellent progress on getting returns up and back to levels seen in previous years, and we will make more progress.