Illegal Migration Bill

Baroness Lawlor Excerpts

2nd reading
Wednesday 10th May 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Lawlor (Con)]

My Lords, it is no easy matter to follow so many of your Lordships, who have raised some difficult and problematic questions about the Bill. Can it, as it aims, prevent and deter migration, particularly by unsafe and illegal routes? Does it comply with UK and international law? Some noble Lords have raised interesting questions in supporting the noble Lord, Lord Paddick, in wanting to see it gone.

I agree that this is a tough and apparently uncompromising measure: not only does it oblige the Home Secretary to detain and remove those arriving in breach of immigration controls, it prohibits a challenge on human rights or asylum-seeking grounds, disapplies some modern-day slavery protections, and bans those subject to Clause 2 from gaining immigration or citizenship status in future. It also seeks, as your Lordships have pointed out, to avoid the prospect of our own courts or the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg holding up removal.

However, the Bill is necessary and proportionate on a number of grounds: for the functioning of our democracy under the rule of law—laws made in Westminster; to take account of the changed circumstances since the 1950s and the new character of immigration into Europe in general; and for the effective working of the asylum system, as so many of your Lordships wish.

Our laws are made in Parliament. Our judges apply them and, where necessary, interpret them, but ultimately Parliament, not the judiciary, must legislate. It does so on the authority of the people, who vote and choose a Government with a particular mandate. The voters have made it clear on a number of occasions that they want the borders controlled, and on this Bill, the House of Commons has given strong backing, with a majority, as has been said, of around 60 in most Divisions. I follow some noble Lords in saying that it is not for this Chamber to reverse the direction of policy backed by voters, the Government and MPs, but of course there will be room to improve the measure.

Circumstances and costs have changed significantly since the pioneering agreements about which your Lordships have spoken so illuminatingly. Not only has international travel risen to mass proportions, but the costs of immigration have also risen, far beyond what we could have imagined in those pioneering days when Parliament first debated Beveridge’s blueprint for the welfare state. Then, in 1943, the premise was that benefit, and the benefit system, would depend on individual contribution. Each individual paid a contribution and benefit was linked to it, although there was discretionary provision for exceptional assistance. By 1951, the year of the convention, potential deviation from the contributory principle, even over such a thing as a qualifying period for old age pension, was a most serious matter of debate.

Today, the system is significantly different. It is more expensive and far more reliant on tax funding, with higher expectations for social security, healthcare and education. As families struggle to pay the bills, it is right to tackle the rising costs of illegal migration, for which we are all paying through an increased tax base for that and other things. I need not remind your Lordships that the UK is now at almost its highest tax extraction since the Second World War.

This is not a UK problem alone: the small boats may be, but not the general problem of people wanting to settle in western European countries. Already, as has been mentioned, Rule 39 of the European Court Rules is being reconsidered and reviewed, with representations from a number of member states. Although I wish the Government well with their transfer arrangements, there is less appetite for transfer or return agreements than may have existed 20 years ago. Immigration has moved centre stage in all our neighbouring countries. In France, President Macron’s immigration Bill is having a not very happy reception from left to right, with demonstrations in the streets. Earlier this month, the Italian Foreign Minister cancelled a trip to Paris because the French Interior Minister had said that the Italian Prime Minister was incapable of controlling migration. That was barely months after the dust settled on the diversion by Italy of a humanitarian ship carrying 300 refugees to France.

Those of us, and I am one of them, who want a safe and legal asylum system for people fleeing persecution and danger to life, and an immigration system that supports the UK’s economic needs, recognise that we must manage both effectively. Removing illegal migrants from this country while their applications are processed may sound drastic, but if the alternative is to billet them into local hotels or disused barracks, there is a danger of undermining social cohesion and the rule of law. The laws of this country matter. They are, and have been for centuries, fair and welcoming to those who flee persecution in their homelands, generous to the many thousands—including me—who came to this country to take advantage of its unparalleled opportunities.

Voters now want their borders controlled. I support this Bill because it is necessary to tackle a particular problem; because the UK, like its fellow European countries, must recognise the political imperative; and because it is a duty on all those responsible for fiscal and economic affairs to control expenditure. Above all, I support it because the laws which govern this country should protect the liberties of all its people, be fair and proportionate and have the support of the people in whose name the law is made.