Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Home Office

Oral Answers to Questions

John Cooper Excerpts
Monday 23rd March 2026

(1 day, 12 hours ago)

Commons Chamber
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Sarah Jones Portrait Sarah Jones
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Yes, and we are looking at that issue as we speak, making sure that we strike the right balance. At the moment, there is a huge cost to policing from football matches and other events more widely that is not covered. That support is not there, so we think it is right that we look at the issue.

John Cooper Portrait John Cooper (Dumfries and Galloway) (Con)
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Small boat returns run at around 6% of the total numbers arriving in this country, but the Home Secretary denies that this is anything to do with the European Convention on Human Rights. If not the ECHR, which part of the Government’s flawed policy is responsible for that feeble rate?

Alex Norris Portrait Alex Norris
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The hon. Gentleman will have heard me say that under this Government, removals have now reached 60,000. That is up by 31% on our predecessors, so I cannot accept the argument that we are not removing people at pace and at scale. The routes by which people come generally depend on which country they come from and how likely they are to have their claim accepted.