UK Asylum and Refugee Policy

Baroness Twycross Excerpts

Friday 9th December 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Twycross (Lab) (Maiden Speech)]

My Lords, I am pleased and very honoured to make my maiden speech today. I thank your Lordships for the kindness and support I have received since entering this House. I also thank my noble friends Lord Kennedy of Southwark and Lady Smith of Basildon for introducing me to the House and for their advice and guidance over the past few weeks. I am grateful as well for the advice and guidance of all colleagues from across the House. I have hugely appreciated the warm welcome and answers to my many questions from the doorkeepers and other staff. I particularly give thanks for the welcome and assistance given to my parents and parents-in-law on the day of my introduction. I feel blessed that they could attend, along with my stepchildren.

If this country is built on migration, then the same is true for my family. My husband is Norwegian, and my interest in politics was inspired by my Irish grandfather who spent part of his childhood living above a laundry on a country estate, his family in service. My grandfather, Jack Campbell, went on to become a civil servant. I did try to follow in his footsteps but was rejected for being too opinionated at my interview. This rejection, however, has led to me having the most interesting life and career so far and was arguably one of the best things that ever happened to me.

I have been fortunate to work with some incredible people and to study, live and work throughout the UK. My current role is Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience. I am grateful for the opportunity the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, gave me by appointing me to this role, which saw me taking a lead in London’s response to Covid. I owe a lot to those I have worked for and the confidence they have shown in me over my career. Indeed, I have worked out that I have well over half a dozen former bosses in this House, mainly from my time working for the Labour Party but also from my time at the health charity Diabetes UK. This alone will make me mind my behaviour. My goal is to avoid faux pas and I aim, as we all do, to make a difference through my work here. At the moment, however, I am trying my hardest to figure out the correct times to stand, where to walk and not to walk, where to sit and how to make sure I do not get shouted at.

My experience here so far reminds me of my early days as a London Assembly member, when everyone else seemed to understand the unwritten protocols and the unspoken rules. I thank all those who are helping to guide me through these rules, in particular the noble Baronesses, Lady Donaghy and Lady Wheeler.

I am also grateful for the opportunity to speak in this important debate. Immigration is an issue I feel passionately about, and I agree strongly with the sentiments so eloquently expressed in the most reverent Primate’s excellent speech.

I declare an interest at this point as chair of the London Resilience Forum. The forum has over 200 member organisations. These are generally organised into sector panels to ensure that the voices of all those organisations that may be called upon to plan for or respond to an emergency are heard. Today’s debate is particularly appropriate in recognition of the work of the Church of England in leading the faith sector panel in London, and the work the Church undertakes in similar roles on LRFs across the country. Along with the voluntary sector, including both national and community-based organisations, faith organisations representing all faiths provide the welcome those fleeing conflict or injustice deserve. They play a vital role in the work of LRFs in relation to forced migration.

Local resilience forums over the past few years have become in some ways the go-to partnerships of last resort, often picking up issues where government cannot identify another obvious way to deal with a crisis. LRF preparedness includes responding to support colleagues from other agencies and partnerships, such as regional strategic migration partnerships, when forced migration does not run as smoothly as it might. Over recent years we have seen forced migration increase with conflict overseas. We should be particularly proud of how the British population stepped up to welcome Ukrainians to this country. There is much to learn and ponder in the context of this debate. However, I will briefly refer to the Afghan relocations and assistance policy— the ARAP scheme—which was set up in April 2021.

A number of those with local government expertise have already described the admirable work carried out during this period, and also how numerous people, including families, pregnant women and children, have been accommodated, sometimes for months and years, in overcrowded hotels. It is clear that the Government could have been far better prepared when planning the airlifts from Kabul which took place in August 2021. However, I want to refer instead to the role of the London Fire Brigade.

As your Lordships know, the London Fire Brigade has had some very challenging press over recent weeks, and some of its problems in relation to culture were debated by this House yesterday. I am proud that the LFB is facing its problems head on. However, I would also say that, despite its issues, the LFB is the best type of emergency service when called upon in a crisis. The fire brigade is made up of doers: the type of people who run towards a problem, rather than run away. Therefore, on the August bank holiday last year, when I was told that there was a problem with basic items reaching immigrants and a lack of drivers to deliver them, I picked up the phone to the fire brigade to ask if it had the capacity to deliver essentials such as nappies and sanitary towels to hotels housing recent arrivals from Afghanistan. It sorted the vital deliveries within hours.

In conclusion, it has been an honour to be able to make my first speech in your Lordships’ House in this debate and on this important subject. I look forward to making future contributions on this and other matters.