Migrants: Barges

Debate between Lord Foulkes of Cumnock and Lord Murray of Blidworth

Wednesday 20th September 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)]

My noble friend is absolutely right. Presently, the hotel bill for migrants is in excess of £8 million per day. It is vital that the use of hotels is drawn down and stopped as swiftly as possible. I can reassure my noble friend that the budget is there in the Home Office for the accommodation of migrants. It is equally important that the taxpayer obtains value for money.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, as the Minister has ruled that this Question is about barges only, once it is clear that the barges are safe and there is no danger to health, can he arrange for one of them to be brought up the Thames and moored outside the Houses of Parliament to provide accommodation to Peers from outwith London who are finding that the escalating costs of hotels in London is using up all our daily attendance allowance?

[Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)]

I have a certain sympathy for the noble Lord’s point. I can reassure him that the use of barges to house asylum seekers is done routinely by our friends in Europe. The German Government housed asylum seekers on this very barge between 1995 and 1998. The Dutch and Belgian Governments have equally done so. The standard of accommodation is high. The noble Lord will recall that the Scottish Government housed Ukrainian asylum seekers on two vessels in Scotland. I think that one of those vessels, the MS “Victoria”, was used to house policemen during the Olympics. This is civilised living accommodation, and clearly I shall inform the Port of London Authority of the noble Lord’s suggestion.

UK-EU: Revised Passenger Requirements

Debate between Lord Foulkes of Cumnock and Lord Murray of Blidworth

Tuesday 21st March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)]

My Lords, it is for the European Commission to decide when it implements its system. Our system will be ready probably before then, and implementation of the ETA is well advanced. But obviously, it is in everyone’s interest to work closely, and I am pleased to report that we have been very much doing so. Technical meetings are happening today between the United Kingdom and France regarding ongoing co-operation on questions of border control. Clearly, if we can reduce any impact, that assists both the UK and the EU member states.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I am pleased that I have still got a maroon passport, a European passport, whereas my good friend, my noble friend Lord Watson, has got one of these, a blue passport, which I understand is printed and produced overseas. Why can we not produce our own passports any more?

[Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)]

I will not castigate the noble Lord for using an exhibit in the Chamber, but perhaps I can say this. We are delighted that passport covers—which are indeed, as I understand it—presently made in Europe, are obtained through a competitive tendering process. We use taxpayers’ money sensibly on this side of the House.

Western Jet Foil and Manston Asylum Processing Centres

Debate between Lord Foulkes of Cumnock and Lord Murray of Blidworth

Tuesday 1st November 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)]

I thank my noble friend for her question. Clearly, the process for considering asylum decisions needs improvement—that is something we are committed to—and the appeal rate clearly reflects some mistaken decision-making. However, it is right to say that certain cases on appeal will consider matters that were not before the original decision-maker, so those cases do not reflect a particular error. The statistic itself does not suggest entirely a situation which is indicative of flawed decision-making by Home Office officials. However, as I say, this is an area on which we shall work.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I too welcome the Minister—notwithstanding the fact that he is a lawyer—because he went to a Scottish university, so he must be okay. However, he must appreciate that in 12 years of a Tory Government we have had a lot of rhetoric and promises but very little practical action, except for gimmicks such as the flights to Rwanda that have never taken place. Everything seems to be done to appease Nigel Farage and his cohort, unfortunately, and the awful racists who surround him. To ask the Minister a specific question, he said that he could not have anticipated the huge influx of immigrants, refugees and migrants across the channel. Why not? Why could it not have been anticipated? What are the Government doing now to anticipate what will happen in the future? The Immigration Minister, Robert Jenrick, said on the radio this morning that he expected the figure would be 50,000 by the end of the year. How does he know that? What are the Government doing to try to mitigate that and reduce the numbers?

[Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)]

The answer to that, as the noble Lord well knows, is to try to produce policies which deter people from seeking to attempt the dangerous channel crossing. That is precisely why we have entered into this agreement with the Government of Rwanda: to seek to disincentivise people from crossing the channel.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

It is not working.

[Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)]

The noble Lord says from a sedentary position that it is not working; the point is that it has not had the chance to work because of the prevailing legal challenge. Once the barriers to the policy are removed and it starts to work, we will see the number of people attempting to cross the channel dropping.