Channel Crossings in Small Boats Debate

Full Debate: Read Full Debate
Department: Home Office

Channel Crossings in Small Boats

Jonathan Edwards Excerpts
Monday 22nd November 2021

(2 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts

Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.

Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.

This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record

Priti Patel Portrait Priti Patel
- View Speech - Hansard - - - Excerpts

I thank my hon. Friend. First, I think Labour Members have made their position clear, not just on legal migration but on illegal migration, with their resistance to everything we have done on a points-based system, ending free movement and, obviously, our plans now to reform a broken asylum system and tackle illegal migration. The Bill is an important piece of legislation. We want to make it harder for the criminal gangs behind these crossings; we want to make the UK less attractive and viable for illegal migration, which really is crucial; and importantly—this is something that the Labour party has not been supportive of either—we want to remove those individuals with no legal right to be here, and we will do that through our legislation.

Jonathan Edwards Portrait Jonathan Edwards (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr) (Ind)
- View Speech - Hansard - -

In response to the British Government’s policy, the Albanian Government have said that Albania

“will never be a hub of anti-immigration policies of bigger and richer countries.”

Which other territories are the British Government considering for their immoral offshore migrant centres?

Priti Patel Portrait Priti Patel
- View Speech - Hansard - - - Excerpts

I am not going to provide any commentary at all in terms of other countries that we are negotiating with. It is for the Government to go away and do this work, which we are doing, and not to start speculating and creating false expectations around much of this work.