Tag: Comments

Diana Johnson – 2022 Question on Legality of Holding Asylum Seekers for Over 24 Hours

The question asked by Diana Johnson, the Chair of the Home Affairs Committee and the Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull North, in the House of Commons on 7 November 2022.

I congratulate the right hon. Member for North Thanet (Sir Roger Gale) on securing this urgent question. Tomorrow, the Home Affairs Committee will visit Manston on its second visit, as we first visited in June. Alongside looking at the overcrowding, the safety issues and the lack of basic facilities, there is a concern about the legality of the Home Secretary’s actions in authorising individuals to be detained at Manston for more than 24 hours. Weekend media reports suggested that she was repeatedly provided with the advice that detaining individuals at Manston for more than 24 hours was illegal. The Sunday Times reported that she had received papers on 4 October stating that the Home Office had no power to detain people solely for welfare reasons or for arranging onward accommodation. Can the Minister explain to the House the legal basis for detaining individuals at Manston for longer than 24 hours?

Robert Jenrick

I am grateful to the right hon. Lady, who chairs the Select Committee, for that question. The law is clear that we should not detain individuals at sites such as Manston for longer than 24 hours, and that is exactly the position that we want to return to as fast as we can.

There are competing legal duties on Ministers. Another legal duty that we need to pay heed to is our duty not to leave individuals destitute. It would be wrong for the Home Office to allow individuals who had only recently arrived in the United Kingdom—the vast majority of those at Manston had been saved at sea by Border Force, the Royal National Lifeboat Institute and the Royal Navy—and who had been brought to the site in a condition of some destitution, to be released on to the rural lanes of Kent without great care. That is why the Home Secretary has balanced her duties and taken the required steps to procure more hotel accommodation as swiftly as we can. The right hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Dame Diana Johnson) can see the work that we have already done.

In answer to the first part of the right hon. Lady’s question, the conditions at Manston were poor because there were too many people there, but a wide range of facilities are provided: individuals are clothed, they are fed three times a day, and there is an excellent medical facility. I have seen those things with my own eyes, and I hope that she sees them as well. We need to keep a sense of proportion about the state of Manston.

November 7, 2022
James Daly – 2022 Question on Hotels for Albanians

The question asked by James Daly, the Conservative MP for Bury North, in the House of Commons on 7 November 2022.

The question for my right hon. Friend is not how many hotels we can book, but how we can stop the increasing number of migrants coming across the channel this year. We have seen more than 10,000 adult males from Albania aged 18 to 40—that is between 1% and 2% of the population—coming to the United Kingdom. We will not have enough hotels in the country if they continue at that rate. What is his view on the agreement that was entered into on 18 November 2002 between the German and Albanian Governments, which allowed Germany to deport Albanians who did not arrive in the country with a valid residence permit? That would allow us to take quick action to take people out of the country who should not be here.

Robert Jenrick

My hon. Friend raises an extremely important point. We want our asylum system to be available to those who truly need it—those who are fleeing persecution, war and human rights abuses around the world. We should not be a harbour for those who are essentially economic migrants coming from safe countries such as Albania. We need to change that. We have now negotiated a return agreement with Albania and 1,000 Albanians have already been returned home under that. I now want to see—I know my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary shares my view—a fast track whereby Albanians who do not meet our asylum criteria have their cases processed quickly and are swiftly returned home. It cannot be right that we are seeing thousands of Albanians making this crossing and essentially taking advantage of the welcome and hospitality afforded to them here in the UK.

November 7, 2022
Zarah Sultana – 2022 Comments on Suella Braverman Using the Language of the BNP

The comments made by Zarah Sultana, the Labour MP for Coventry South, on Twitter on 7 November 2022.

Suella Braverman is using the inflammatory language of the BNP and the far-right. This dangerous rhetoric is totally unacceptable and must be universally condemned.

November 7, 2022
Doug Beattie – 2022 Comments on Gangland Violence

The comments made by Doug Beattie, the Leader of the Ulster Unionists, on 7 November 2022.

The weekend comments from Mary Lou McDonald that there is ‘no comparison’ between IRA violence and gangland violence has rightly been rejected, as has her claim that Jonathan Dowdall would not have been “anywhere near” Sinn Fein had her party known he was involved in any form of criminality.

The whitewashing of the IRA’s part in the butchering of men, women and children and the continual harm and hurt visited on families is appalling and what we are witnessing is the Disneyfication of murder, seeking to romanticise brutal crimes.

Mary Lou McDonald is deluded if she thinks that IRA atrocities such as the Abercorn, Claudy, La Mon or Enniskillen were not crimes. The shooting of Angela Gallagher, Jean McConville and Mary Travers – to name but a few – are crimes that would shame the devil, but not it would seem Sinn Fein.

Gun attacks by drug gangs are no different to gun attacks by the IRA, because both are the work of illegal criminal gangs.

I fully understand that Sinn Fein has a vested interest in trying to sanitise the bloody past of the IRA, but they face some inconvenient facts in the process. The first is that that 60 per cent of Troubles related deaths were the work of republican terrorists. The second is that the IRA in supposedly defending the Catholic population, killed more Catholics than all the other actors combined.

Sinn Fein may attempt to pretend that black is white but they should not be surprised when they are challenged every step of the way by those for whom the truth is not a stranger.

November 7, 2022
Doug Beattie – 2022 Comments on Confirmation on No Elections Before Christmas

The comments made by Doug Beattie, the Leader of the Ulster Unionists, on 4 November 2022.

The Ulster Unionist Party told the Secretary of State that a pre-Christmas Election would not solve the problems we face which are due to the NI Protocol, so we welcome the fact that he has confirmed there will not be such an election.

We now have an opportunity to create time and space to resolve matters because currently there seems to be no plan to get the Executive up and running to help address the very real problems being faced by the people of Northern Ireland.

Under the current legislation we still face a deadline of 8 December and a possible Assembly election on the 18th January. That would also be a mistake because an election would simply cost money and stall negotiations on the protocol.

None of this changes the basic fact that we need to reach a solution that gives Unionism confidence so all parties can return to the Executive and work for the people of Northern Ireland.

November 7, 2022
Jeremy Corbyn – 2022 Comments on COP27

The comments made by Jeremy Corbyn, the Independent MP for North Islington, on Twitter on 7 November 2022.

Humanity is at a tipping point.

#COP27 must achieve climate justice, support the poorest for loss and damage, and deliver systemic change on a global scale.

We are running out of time. Solidarity with climate activists and human rights defenders who cannot wait any longer.

November 7, 2022
Rishi Sunak – 2022 Comments on Benjamin Netanyahu Winning Election in Israel

The comments made by Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, on 7 November 2022.

On behalf of the UK, I would like to congratulate Benjamin Netanyahu on his victory in the Israeli elections. Across areas like trade, security and technology there is a huge amount our countries do together and I look forward to working with the returning Prime Minister.

November 7, 2022
Keir Starmer – 2022 Comments on Gavin Williamson

The comments made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 7 November 2022.

I think that the Prime Minister has got people who are clearly not fit for the job around the cabinet table. Gavin Williamson has got history when it comes to breaches of security and leaking. He is clearly not suitable, but the central focus really here is on the Prime Minister, to ask the question why has he put these people around the cabinet.

November 7, 2022
Rishi Sunak – 2022 Comments on COP27

The comments made by Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, on 7 November 2022.

When the world came together in Glasgow last year, nations agreed an historic roadmap for preventing catastrophic global warming. As I travel to COP27 in Egypt today, it is more important than ever that we deliver on those pledges.

Fighting climate change is not just a moral good – is it fundamental to our future prosperity and security. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and contemptible manipulation of energy prices has only reinforced the importance of ending our dependence on fossil fuels.

We need to move further and faster to transition to renewable energy, and I will ensure the UK is at the forefront of this global movement as a clean energy superpower.

November 7, 2022
Diane Dodds – 2022 Comments on IRA Murders and Democracy in Northern Ireland

The comments made by Diane Dodds, the DUP MLA for Upper Bann, on 5 November 2022.

In Christmas 1996 the IRA came into the Royal Victoria Children’s hospital to murder my husband and I as we sat by our son’s bedside. It’s high time Michelle O’Neill and Mary Lou McDonald accepted there was an alternative to unleashing gunmen in a children’s hospital and condemned the murderous and reckless act.

The DUP made clear there was no basis for government last February when we were the largest party. Unlike Sinn Fein we have always respected the ballot box and the rule of law.

The DUP accepts the last election result but rejects the NI Protocol that Sinn Fein wants rigorously implemented. False claims about the last election come straight from the Sinn Fein textbook of lying about political opponents.

Stormont can only function with unionists and nationalists so until the Protocol is sorted there is no solid basis for moving forward.

November 7, 2022