Immigration Control (Gross Human Rights Abuses) Bill [HL]

Baroness Wheatcroft Excerpts

2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords
Friday 15th December 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wheatcroft (Con)]

My Lords, like others, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy, on bringing forward this Bill. I am proud to regard her as a friend; she is a hero and a crusader—and in this crusade it is clear that all sides of the House support her. This debate is not about whether human rights abuses take place—we know that they do and we abhor them, but that reaction is not enough. This debate is about what we should to punish those who perpetrate such abuses.

Earlier this week, I was lucky enough to meet Bill Browder. A fellow guest at dinner asked him if he was afraid for his life—a reasonable question, given what had happened to Alexander Litvinenko in a London hotel. But Browder is remarkably sanguine about the possibility of encountering a fatal dose of polonium in his tea. He is far too engaged in his absolute passion for redressing what was done to his lawyer—a young man who was determined to see the right thing done. That is really what we are debating today: whether we in this country should join him in the fight against what Russia did to Sergei Magnitsky and what other countries do to other people all around the world.

Browder’s book, Red Notice, is a remarkable read and, since the copy of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Brown, is out on loan, I am happy to offer mine to anybody interested in reading it. It is a terrifying chronicle of what can go on when a regime becomes, as he puts it,

“a criminal enterprise wielding all the power of a sovereign state”.

Russia is not the only country for which this description is appropriate. We need to stand up against such regimes and, in particular, against the people who exert power within them. As we have heard today, some of those people may even be outside the regimes where wilful abuse is being perpetrated on their behalf.

This country has, as we have heard, introduced an asset ban, but this Bill goes further. It gives the power to refuse entry and to name the criminals who have benefited from their crimes. We know that the UK is a magnet for people with money, and we have heard the sort of things that they like to do here with their cash. Those who perpetrate human rights abuses seem, all too often, to reap rich rewards from their crimes and seek to spend them on luxuries in the West. We should do our very best to stop them. They like to make use of health services and luxury hotels and to get the best education for their children. We should not be making it easy for them to do that.

Yesterday, a television reporter who has decided that she will stand against Putin in the election in March next year, said that,

“people understand that being an opposition figure in Russia means either you get killed, or jailed, or something like that”.

She was remarkably matter of fact about it. That is how things are in Russia. We need to demonstrate that we will not condone such behaviour.

As a result of Bill Browder’s efforts, more than 40 Russians have been named and shamed in the US. We could do that too. If we support this Bill, we will be following, rather than leading—not the best position to be in, but we should nevertheless follow. Our Government seem remarkably sanguine about the fact that Russia was actively involved in trying to influence the result of our referendum. I find that an insult to democracy. However, more than anything, I am opposed to the sort of human rights abuses heaped upon people such as Sergei Magnitsky. We need to support this Bill and fight back.