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Migration and Border Security
02 December 2024
Lead MP
Yvette Cooper
Debate Type
Ministerial Statement
Tags
ImmigrationAsylum & RefugeesMigrants & BordersEmployment
Other Contributors: 39
At a Glance
Yvette Cooper raised concerns about migration and border security in the House of Commons. A government minister responded. Other MPs also contributed.
How the Debate Unfolded
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said:
Government Statement
Madam Deputy Speaker granted permission to make a statement on net migration, asylum and border security. The Minister outlined the failure of the previous government over five years, with net migration quadrupling to nearly 1 million people, dangerous small boat crossings increasing by a hundred-and-twentyfold, and asylum costs quadrupling to £4 billion. She criticised reforms making it easier for employers to recruit from abroad and cutting apprenticeships, resulting in an increase in illegal immigration and undermining public trust in the system. The minister stated that legal migration must be controlled further with new visa controls and a White Paper showing ways to link the points-based system with training requirements. She also discussed improvements in the asylum system and returns of those with no right to stay, while condemning the previous government's Rwanda partnership as ineffective and expensive. Additionally, she highlighted international collaborations on border security, including agreements with Iraq for enhanced capabilities against organised crime.
Chris Philp
Con
Croydon South
Question
Why have small boat crossings increased so much since Labour was elected, and why did they cancel the Rwanda deterrent before it even started? What are the Home Secretary's plans for an offshore processing scheme?
Minister reply
The minister acknowledged criticisms but defended her government’s measures to address illegal immigration and border security. She emphasised ongoing international collaborations and enforcement efforts, such as the new Border Security Command and agreements with Iraq to tackle organised crime.
Chris Philp
Con
Croydon South
Question
Why have visa thresholds not been increased further in April? What about introducing a hard cap on net migration numbers?
Minister reply
The minister did not provide a direct response to the specific questions regarding the suspension of the planned salary threshold increase and the introduction of a hard cap. She highlighted her government's efforts towards improving legal migration controls, asylum management, and border security through international collaborations.
Chris Philp
Con
Croydon South
Question
Asked why small boat crossings have increased significantly since the election and questioned the Home Secretary's record. Cited the National Crime Agency and Ursula von der Leyen to argue for a return of the Rwanda deportation scheme, criticised the cancellation of an increase in visa salary thresholds, and called for a hard cap on migration numbers.
Minister reply
The Minister argued that the previous government promised but never implemented flights to Rwanda. She highlighted measures taken by her government to address recent high asylum applications and Vietnam-related crossings, and pointed out that net migration figures hit record highs under Philp's tenure.
Afzal Khan
Lab
Manchester Rusholme
Question
Welcomed additional funding for border security but questioned the use of taxpayers’ money in paying people to go to Rwanda.
Minister reply
The Minister agreed that strengthening intelligence and enforcement capabilities against smuggling gangs was a better use of taxpayer funds than flights to Rwanda. She emphasised efforts to dismantle criminal infrastructure along borders.
Lisa Smart
Lib Dem
Hazel Grove
Question
Critiqued the previous government's handling of immigration and called for rebuilding an effective system that works for both the economy and society. Questioned restrictions on recruitment for sectors like hospitality, suggested a carer’s minimum wage to address social care needs, and emphasised cracking down on modern slavery.
Minister reply
The Minister welcomed many points made by Smart, agreeing on the need for rebuilding public trust in an immigration system and addressing high levels of foreign recruitment in specific sectors. She committed to support fair pay agreements in social care and asked the Migration Advisory Committee to look at engineering and IT sectors.
Nadia Whittome
Lab
Nottingham East
Question
Does the Home Secretary agree that the public are right to be angry about the state of public services, and that the blame lies squarely with 14 years of cuts and mismanagement by Conservative Governments, not with migrants who contribute to their new home? Will she stand up to attempts by Conservative Members to distract from their own failures and divide the country by scapegoating people who just want a better life for themselves and their families?
Minister reply
My hon. Friend is right to say that in 14 years the previous Government did deep damage not just to our public services but to our economy, and they have to take responsibility for that. We have a history going back through generations of people who have come to the UK to work, study, and get protection from persecution, but it is because those systems are an important part of who we are that they also need to be controlled and managed.
Karen Bradley
Con
Staffordshire Moorlands
Question
The estimated spend on the agreement with Iraq is around £800,000, which compares with, I think, the £476 million being spent on our agreement with France. Has the Home Secretary made an estimate of how much she expects that money will contribute to reducing the numbers crossing the channel?
Minister reply
What we have found in our discussions with both the Iraqi Government and the Kurdistan regional authority is that they want to tackle organised immigration crime in their country. They are concerned about not just people trafficking and people smuggling, but drug trafficking, to which the same gangs are sometimes linked, and money laundering. We found a strong willingness to work with us; the most important thing will be to get the co-ordination, co-operation, information sharing, standards and intelligence in place.
Amber Valley
Question
As an international liaison prosecutor, my job was to facilitate international co-operation, working with the NCA and overseas authorities. Does the Home Secretary agree that that is the key to smashing the criminal people smuggling gangs, not gimmicks such as the Rwanda scheme?
Minister reply
I completely agree. Spending £700 million just to send back four volunteers was the most astonishing, shocking waste of money. My hon. Friend is right. The criminal gangs operate across borders, but law enforcement across borders is far too weak.
Edward Leigh
Con
Gainsborough
Question
I agree with the Home Secretary that the failure of the last Government to control immigration was unconscionable, and our new leader has rightly apologised for our failure. Some of us on the Back Benches warned the Government at the time, but there we are—that is the past. Looking to the future, I agree that we all want to return illegal migrants to where they came from, but will the Home Secretary list the countries that human rights lawyers say are so unsafe that people cannot be returned to them? What is the deterrent for people from those countries if we do not have an offshoring policy?
Minister reply
Obviously, each individual case needs to be decided on a case-by-case basis. It has been agreed through the courts that, for example, some people could be safely returned to Iraq, but the process, or the bureaucracy, is extremely slow.
Scott Arthur
Lab
Edinburgh South West
Question
I thank the Secretary of State for her statement, and I ask my question in the context of my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I also thank her for talking about the UK’s strong history of welcoming people who are trying to escape persecution. We should not forget that at the heart of the organised people smuggling into this country are people being exploited and dying. The last Government were reduced in their final days to sloganising about people coming on boats, and about the Rwanda scheme, which brought shame on our country.
Minister reply
Clearly the Rwanda scheme failed, and the Leader of the Opposition knows that it failed. That is why she does not want to reinstate it, contrary to the views of the shadow Home Secretary.
Tim Farron
Lib Dem
Westmorland and Lonsdale
Question
Migration plays a significant part in our economy. In the Lake district, 66% of hospitality and tourism businesses report that they are failing to meet demand because of a lack of workforce capacity. Migration is part of the answer. Will the Home Secretary listen to leaders of the Cumbria hospitality and tourism economy and meet them to discuss options such as a youth mobility visa scheme?
Minister reply
All I would say to the hon. Gentleman is that there are some deep and fundamental problems in the UK labour market that we have inherited.
Gregor Poynton
Lab
Livingston
Question
The former Conservative Immigration Minister, the right hon. Member for Newark (Robert Jenrick), has said that the country is “right to be furious” about his party’s record on immigration, and that the Conservatives need to own their failures and change. What is there, in the Conservatives’ obsession with their failed and costly Rwanda programme, to show that they have heeded his warning and changed their approach?
Minister reply
My hon. Friend is right. The former Immigration Minister and now shadow Justice Secretary also said that the net migration figures were a day of shame for the Conservative Party.
Gavin Williamson
Con
Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge
Question
Can the Home Secretary set out how many hotels have been moved into housing asylum seekers since 4 July? Will she commit to updating the House regularly as to which hotels have been repurposed for that use?
Minister reply
I know that the Immigration Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Wallasey (Dame Angela Eagle), has already answered some of the questions that the right hon. Gentleman has raised.
Barry Gardiner
Lab
Brent West
Question
It is clear that my right hon. Friend inherited a chaotic immigration situation from the last Government, and I commend her on the work she is doing. She rightly focused on international co-operation, but principally on removals. Does she accept that, in a world as interconnected as ours, migration can no longer adequately be managed by treaties that are now more than 70 years out of date? We need to co-operate with our international partners, to create a new structure and a new settlement for managing global migration.
Minister reply
My hon. Friend makes important points, because countries do need to work together and to look far more at some of the causes of migration.
Pete Wishart
SNP
Perth and Kinross-shire
Question
The absurd and chaotic Brexit—fully supported by those on the Government Front Bench—was supposed to finally satisfy this obsession, but ending free movement has only increased the numbers of people coming here. What is the point of their Brexit, and why has it so spectacularly failed to manage to get a hold on immigration to the UK?
Minister reply
The previous Conservative Government made a decision in 2021 to launch what was in effect a free market approach to immigration.
Alice Macdonald
Lab Co-op
Norwich North
Question
Will the Home Secretary expand on the measures that we are taking with European neighbours in particular to crack down on these criminal gangs once and for all?
Minister reply
We have been working with Italy, Germany, Bulgaria and France. We have a new agreement with Italy to go after illicit finance, which has significantly reduced Mediterranean crossings. With Germany and Bulgaria, we are focusing on supply chains, including boats and engines moving across Europe.
Lewis Cocking
Con
Broxbourne
Question
When will the Secretary of State honour the Government’s manifesto commitment to close asylum hotels?
Minister reply
We are determined to clear the backlog so we can end asylum hotels. The previous government increased and opened about 400, while there were no asylum hotels in 2019. We have already saved hundreds of millions for taxpayers.
Emma Foody
Lab Co-op
Cramlington and Killingworth
Question
Was the Home Secretary as surprised as me to hear that, as part of the £700 million spent by the previous Government on the failed Rwanda scheme, the package of support for volunteers included various benefits at a cost of £150,000 per person? Does she agree it was a waste of money?
Minister reply
My hon. Friend is right; sending just four volunteers while employing 1,000 people on the scheme was wasteful. Those 1,000 could have worked on enforcement, returns or clearing backlogs instead.
Nigel Farage
Reform
Clacton
Question
Where did asylum seekers in 2023 come from? Were they overstayers, on student visas, etc.?
Minister reply
We need to restore order to the system and tackle criminal gangs undermining border security and putting lives at risk, as well as tackling small boat crossings. We found that the previous Government’s decision to remove visa requirements for visitors led to a significant increase in asylum applications from people coming as visitors.
John Slinger
Lab
Rugby
Question
Does she agree that support from the UK and allies for the Kurdistan region in Iraq fosters greater prosperity and stability, reducing corruption and thereby alleviating some of the push factors causing migration to this country?
Minister reply
My hon. Friend makes an important point. Security is the foundation of economic growth; both the Iraqi Government and the Kurdish Regional Government want to tackle organised immigration crime.
Andrew Murrison
Con
South West Wiltshire
Question
Will she assure the House that she will not overdo her requests of other Government Departments, in particular the Ministry of Defence, which historically has been very helpful in finding surplus accommodation to house migrants?
Minister reply
I agree about supporting our armed forces. The number of asylum decisions dropped by 70% in six months and increased the backlog over the summer; we have now managed to get asylum decisions back up and are able to take action on asylum hotels, saving hundreds of millions.
Samantha Niblett
Lab
South Derbyshire
Question
Does the Home Secretary agree that reducing small boat crossings by more than a third since taking office is pretty decent progress?
Minister reply
My hon. Friend is right; if we had carried on at record high levels, there could have been 50,000 crossings this year. We still need to take action on gangs and strengthen border security.
Wendy Chamberlain
Lib Dem
North East Fife
Question
Can the Secretary of State give the assurance that people will not be disadvantaged if their e-visas are not processed by the end of January?
Minister reply
The Minister with responsibility for e-visas is working to ensure concerns are dealt with, ensuring no one is disadvantaged by the transfer to the new electronic system.
Paul Waugh
Lab Co-op
Rochdale
Question
Does the Home Secretary agree that it is better to train our own people in this country than to repeat the failed Tory policies that left us all poorer?
Minister reply
My hon. Friend is right; we need a complete overhaul of training and support for work, getting UK residents back into work and ensuring no chaos in net migration.
Julia Lopez
Con
Hornchurch and Upminster
Question
In the previous Parliament, Labour consistently voted down stricter border laws. The Iraq deal sounds promising but what difference will £500,000 to the Iraqi Government make?
Minister reply
We are establishing new co-operation with Iraq to tackle organised immigration crime and border security. This agreement is the first that Iraq has made with any country on this issue.
Amanda Martin
Lab
Portsmouth North
Question
Residents in Portsmouth North are concerned about the rising cost of housing asylum seekers, can the Home Secretary say when we expect the cost to reduce?
Minister reply
We have already saved hundreds of millions of pounds from the asylum accommodation budget and expect to save more next year. In total, we will save £4 billion over the next few years.
Desmond Swayne
Con
New Forest West
Question
What deterrent will the Home Secretary implement for those asylum claimants who have destroyed their papers?
Minister reply
We are working to establish stronger returns arrangements with other countries and extend biometrics, which makes it easier to prevent people from delaying either asylum claims or returns.
Mark Sewards
Lab
Leeds South West and Morley
Question
Does the Home Secretary agree that processing people and sending them abroad is a better deterrent than bribing them to send them over to Rwanda?
Minister reply
We will always make sure we are looking for good value for money, as well as getting results.
Sammy Wilson
DUP
East Antrim
Question
What does the Home Secretary intend to do to remove the pull factor that encourages people to see Britain as an easy touch?
Minister reply
We are cracking down on illegal working and employer exploitation, increasing penalties for employers who breach important employment laws.
Greg Smith
Con
Mid Buckinghamshire
Question
Who is actually serious on the question of removal or processing agreements with third countries: this Government or Ursula von der Leyen?
Minister reply
We have been very clear about the importance of working with other countries and will look at practical measures, such as similar fast-track arrangements to those in Italy-Albania.
Richard Foord
Lib Dem
Honiton and Sidmouth
Question
Does the Secretary of State consider it to be in the UK’s own national interest that we confiscate all Russia’s frozen assets, offer the proceeds to the defence of Ukraine and prevent further displacement?
Minister reply
We continue to condemn the Putin Government for their actions and will support Ukraine in every way possible.
Lincoln Jopp
Con
Spelthorne
Question
May I suggest that the Home Secretary should change the rules with a stroke of her pen, and that anyone who is subject to a deportation order should simply be deported?
Minister reply
We take seriously the need to speed up enforcement for those who have no right to be here. We are working to improve matters.
Richard Tice
Reform
Boston and Skegness
Question
Could she comment on whether people in the Home Office will be held accountable for allowing systems and controls to crumble?
Minister reply
Conservative Ministers made policy decisions that led to a big increase in migration. They need to take responsibility for these decisions.
Blake Stephenson
Con
Mid Bedfordshire
Question
Will the Home Secretary confirm how many country deals are being worked on to ensure that people can be returned to their country of origin, and when does she expect them to have a material impact on the level of migration to the UK?
Minister reply
Some of the work focuses on speeding up existing returns arrangements. Significant increases in returns were observed over the summer due to charter flights organised post-election.
Luke Taylor
Lib Dem
Sutton and Cheam
Question
Will she consider ending the ban on asylum seekers working, and reducing the time limit to three months so that they can integrate into society?
Minister reply
No, she does not think this is right. The focus is on clearing the backlog, speeding up decision making, and ensuring swift returns for those without the right to be here.
Jack Rankin
Con
Windsor
Question
What assessment has been made of the extra pressures on vital local services due to illegal economic migrants staying in asylum hotels?
Minister reply
The use of asylum hotels is deemed as a negative consequence. The current government aims to clear backlogs and reduce costs by having more caseworkers.
Max Wilkinson
Lib Dem
Cheltenham
Question
What reassurances does she have on human rights for those being returned to Iraq? Will human rights always be a red line when striking migration deals?
Minister reply
The agreement with the Iraqi Government supports international law and human rights. Every decision in the asylum system is made based on individual merits.
Jim Shannon
DUP
Strangford
Question
What will be done to achieve a reasonable immigration policy? How will those who have not come here legally be dealt with?
Minister reply
Enforced returns were up 19% and voluntary returns increased by 14%. A White Paper will propose linking the Migration Advisory Committee, skills bodies, and other organisations for stronger controls.
Shadow Comment
Chris Philp
Shadow Comment
The shadow minister criticised the current Home Secretary’s silence on her own record since being elected and pointed to data showing a significant increase in small boat crossings, asylum hotel usage, and backlog of applications. He argued for the re-establishment of an offshore processing scheme as recommended by the National Crime Agency, despite its cancellation by the Labour government. Philp also questioned why life sentences for people smugglers were not supported when they could help combat criminal gangs more effectively. On legal migration, he welcomed reductions but criticised the suspension of a planned salary threshold increase and called for a hard cap on numbers proposed by the Leader of the Opposition.
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