King’s Speech

Lord Blencathra Excerpts

Monday 18th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Blencathra (Con)]

My Lords, I welcome the rhetoric of the Chişinău Declaration and the wonderfully sensible words in the No. 10 briefing on the immigration Bill that bogus illegals will not be able to use every excuse under the sun to prevent them being sent back. Will it happen? I doubt it since we have two major problems. First, it is just a political declaration and not one word of the ECHR treaty will change. The same judges will continue expanding their powers, undermining democratic Governments. What most people do not realise is that the majority in the court are not real judges as we understand them or as we see in this House, but legal academics, many of whom would not get a lectureship in one of our low-grade polytechnics.

The second problem is the appalling decisions of many of our own immigration judges, who have refused to send back murderers, paedophiles and rapists, since the poor darlings would not get the same luxurious prison treatment they get here. So, unless we amend our own laws and get rid of some incompetent judges, none of the rhetoric will work. I serve on the Council of Europe and for the last few years colleagues, including left-wing and socialist MPs, from many other countries have been saying that massive Islamic immigration is destroying 500 years of Judaeo-Christian liberal democracy in Europe. “They bring a different attitude to our laws, culture and even democracy itself”, they say.

I have had a little flat near here for almost 30 years, and I have seen demographic changes—the influx of Somalis, Eritreans, Syrians, Iraqis and others from sub-Saharan Africa. I have seen an unfortunate increase in aggro and hostility to our way of life and, yes, liberal democracy. I have seen the increase in criminality from people just off the boat, then driving big illegal bikes on the pavement for Deliveroo and Uber Eats the next day at one end of the scale, and at the other, the machete culture we seem to have imported from Africa.

There is a little Tesco in Strutton Ground and a Sainsbury’s on Marsham Street, both sort of 7-11s. When I came back after Christmas they both had erected big steel frames with bullet-resistant glass in them. You poke your groceries through one slot, the staff ring them up, and they poke them back through another. You cannot get chocolates because they are locked behind plastic screens. What a disgusting way to have to shop for groceries today, but the staff now need that protection. That Sainsbury’s is 20 yards away, across the street, from the Home Office, and 200 yards away from the HQ of MI5. It is not local London cabbies, nor poor people, who are driving this crime wave. I regret it is immigrant-led. So who in the name of God are we letting into this country that we need armour-plated glass in a little grocery shop a quarter of a mile away from this building?

Then we have the vile attacks on Jews in this country. Not enough has been done to stop those despicable Palestinian marches. Let us not pretend that they are defending Gaza when they have signs showing Israel being pushed into the sea and chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”—free of Jews, that is. They can lie all they like, but they are calling for a new Holocaust—8 million Jews to be removed from their homeland. The British Jewish community has a rich history of contributions to the UK, playing vital roles across all tiers of society. Its historic and ongoing impact is deeply woven into our country’s economic foundations, public health, and social welfare. From medicine and healthcare to banking and retail, charity and philanthropy, law and—look around us—politics, Jews have helped to make this country great. Perhaps in 200 years’ time we might be able to say the same thing about Palestinians. Jews have not knifed imams, driven cars into Christmas markets or set off terrorist bombs; nor do they have a belief in killing people who do not share their religion.

I welcome the language used in the Government’s briefing documents for the gracious Speech, but only the details of the legislation will let us see whether it is a real attempt to bring back control from the terror sweeping our streets in London and some other cities.