Illegal Migrant Returns Agreements
Debate between Lord Austin of Dudley and Lord Hanson of Flint(2 weeks, 6 days ago)
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Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)
I am grateful to the noble Lord for his question. As he knows, my right honourable friend the Home Secretary visited Iraq last week and has engaged with the Government of Iraq to look at co-operation on a number of fronts, to try to stop small boats, to facilitate returns and to look at other issues to do with criminality, terrorism and co-operation between the two authorities on law enforcement matters. Further details of the engagement and discussion will be announced in due course. I hope the noble Lord recognises that that is another step to go with the 9,400 returns we have made and the 1,520 foreign national offenders we have deported, both since 5 July.
Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-Afl)
My Lords, of course illegal immigration has to be dealt with but, frankly, I am more concerned about the impact of the 2.5 million people the last Government allowed in legally in the last two years. What assessment have the Government made of the impact of that on already creaking public services such as schools and hospitals? Where are all these people going to live, given that we are failing to build enough housing for people already in the country, and how on earth is it possible to integrate such a huge number of people arriving in such a short period of time?
Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)
My noble friend— I still call him that from days gone by—will be aware that only last week the Prime Minister announced a potential White Paper on net migration. Early in the new year and beyond, we will look at the issue of net migration. This Question focuses on return agreements. We have a significant number of return agreements in place with China, Moldova, Iraq and a whole range of other countries. I am very happy to supply him with the long list; it would take far too long if I read it all out today.
Non-crime Hate Incidents
Debate between Lord Austin of Dudley and Lord Hanson of Flint(1 month ago)
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The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Hanson of Flint) (Lab)
It is vital that the police monitor non- crime hate incidents when proportionate and necessary to do so to help prevent serious crimes. The police focus, however, is on keeping our streets safe and protecting communities, and we will balance protecting communities from hate with the fundamental right of free speech.
Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-Afl)
My Lords, so-called non-crime hate incidents may have been introduced for perfectly good reasons after the Macpherson inquiry, but last year the police recorded more than 13,000, including some against schoolchildren and others for utterly absurd reasons—I myself was investigated for calling Hamas Islamists. Meanwhile, just 2% of rapes and 4% of burglaries lead to someone being charged, shoplifting has been virtually decriminalised and there is an epidemic of mobile phone theft on the streets of London. The police and the public think all this is utterly absurd. Will Ministers set up an independent review to ensure that the police are dealing with real crimes with real victims?
Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)
The collection of non-crime hate incident information is important because it helps to get a picture of potential wider crime in due course. But make no mistake: this Government’s priority is securing the streets, protecting the public and improving neighbourhood policing. The noble Lord will know that we are very clear that we support action on rape and sexual offences, and we are going to support action on burglary and put in place neighbourhood policing. Even today, the Home Secretary has announced half a billion pounds of extra support for policing, over and above what will be announced in December’s final settlement, to secure neighbourhood policing and tackle the very issues the noble Lord mentioned.