Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State on 12 July 2021, Official Report, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for the UK's international obligations towards refugees of the Government's proposals on making entry to the UK from a safe country a criminal offence through the Nationality and Borders Bill.

This policy is compatible with our international obligations. Individuals who are recognised as refugees and who have travelled directly to the UK, in line with Article 31 of the Refugee Convention, will benefit from the protection of Article 31 and should therefore not be convicted of the illegal entry or arrival offences. No one will be returned to a country where they may be subjected to persecution.

We remain committed to our international obligations under the UN Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights but individuals should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach.