Oral Answers to Questions

Rupert Lowe Excerpts

Monday 9th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dan Jarvis]

I am grateful to the Chair of the Committee for setting out the work it will be doing. I have long believed in the importance of working closely with the National Crime Agency to tackle serious organised crime, which is a blight on all our communities. We are working closely with the NCA to ensure it has the appropriate level of resourcing and the correct strategic priorities, and I meet the director every single week. We would be very happy to co-operate closely with the right hon. Lady on the work that her Committee is doing. She is right to mention the importance of police reform; we are obviously looking carefully at that process, and will ensure that we configure ourselves in a way that will maximise the ability of the National Crime Agency to tackle serious organised crime.

[Rupert Lowe (Great Yarmouth) (Ind)]

T2.  If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

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

This Government pledged to restore order and control to our borders, and our work is taking effect. Since we took office, removals of illegal migrants are up 31%, to nearly 60,000, forced returns are up 45%, and deportations of foreign criminals are up by a third. In December we imposed visa sanctions on three countries—Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo—and those sanctions have worked, with each of those countries now accepting its citizens back. I know that the public want us to do more, and we will: we will reform human rights law and our appeals processes to swiftly remove those with no right to be here. This country will always offer sanctuary to genuine refugees, but with those who do not play by the rules, we must be firm. The previous Conservative Government lost control, and it is this Labour Government who are restoring order to our border.

[Rupert Lowe]

As the Secretary of State knows, our independent rape gang inquiry hearings are ongoing just a short walk from this Chamber. Last week I sat opposite one woman who was raped by between 600 and 700 men. She estimated that 98% were Pakistani Muslims. The evidence we are collecting is brutal. We have been told again and again of attempts to traffic raped and abused women overseas to Pakistan and elsewhere; thankfully, those attempts failed, but how many did not? Will the Secretary of State agree to urgently review cases of missing girls in target areas and launch a full state investigation into reports of such trafficking?

[Shabana Mahmood]

The testimony of the victims that the hon. Gentleman has heard from is absolutely horrifying, and the grooming gangs scandal was one of the darkest moments in this country’s history. Victims and survivors of these hideous crimes deserve justice, and we will make sure that they get it. Our inquiry is a full, statutory independent inquiry, with all the powers under the Inquiries Act 2005 to deliver justice. I urge the hon. Gentleman and anybody else who has heard any allegations or evidence of criminality to share it with the police immediately.