Oral Answers to Questions

Joshua Reynolds Excerpts

Monday 26th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Shabana Mahmood]

The hon. Lady knows that given that there are outstanding issues to be considered in this case, I cannot comment on the facts. She should know that, as a principle, anyone who receives a sentence of 12 months or more and is a danger to our community will have their asylum claim rejected.

[Mr Joshua Reynolds (Maidenhead) (LD)]

2. What assessment she has made of the potential merits of the UK joining the EU pact on migration and asylum.

[The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Shabana Mahmood)]

I have an excellent working relationship with EU partners, particularly with France, which has helped prevent over 50,000 crossings since the election. The EU asylum pact has yet to resolve the challenges of returns within Europe, and currently those returns are not happening at scale, so the pact is not a silver bullet.

[Mr Reynolds]

The Prime Minister has said that he wants access to the Eurodac database. How does the Government propose to negotiate that without breaching their EU red lines?

[Shabana Mahmood]

I am not going to conduct a negotiation with the European Union from this Dispatch Box. The hon. Member will know, as I have said to Liberal Democrat Members before, that we are of course always thinking about how we can work more collaboratively with our partners in Europe on law enforcement co-operation and data sharing. I am sure that will be the subject of much discussion at the UK-EU summit.