Points of Order

Ben Obese-Jecty Excerpts

Monday 12th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for giving notice of her point of order. The Public Bill Office will be able to advise her on how to withdraw her Bill. It is not a matter for the Chair, but she has put on record her reason for withdrawing the Bill.

[Ben Obese-Jecty (Huntingdon) (Con)]

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. On 10 February 2025, the Minister for Border Security and Asylum inadvertently misled the House. She stated:

“The latest figures show that 18,987 people with no right to be here have been deported since we came into government.”—[Official Report, 10 February 2025; Vol. 762, c. 131.]

The Home Office clearly defines deportations as

“a specific subset of returns which are enforced either following a criminal conviction or when it is judged that a person’s removal from the UK is conducive to the public good.”

The latest figures available state that in the year ending 2024, there were just 4,428 enforced returns since Labour came into government. The rest were, in fact, voluntary returns, nearly 50% of which are classified as other verified returns in which the Government played no active role. Will you please ask the Minister to correct the record in accordance with 1.6.c. of the “Ministerial Code” during her next appearance at the Dispatch Box?

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for notice of that point of order. It is not a matter for the Chair, but those on the Government Front Bench will have heard his point.