Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill

Debate between Lord Katz and Lord Murray of Blidworth

Committee stage
Monday 13th October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lords, Lord Murray of Blidworth and Lord Faulks, for their Amendments 203F and 203G, which seek to introduce mandatory publication of immigration and asylum judgments from the First-tier Tribunal and the Upper Tribunal. I agree that accountability and transparency are absolutely vital for building trust and credibility in the immigration system. However, it remains the case that the judiciary is responsible for decisions on publishing individual judgments, including judgments of the immigration and asylum chamber of the First-tier Tribunal. The Government do not consider it necessary to legislate to change the current arrangements.

Members of the public and the media can still apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a copy of the judgment in a specific case, and the request will be considered by the president of the immigration and asylum chamber of the First-tier Tribunal. On the other hand, judgments of the immigration and asylum chamber of the Upper Tribunal, which determines appeals against First-tier decisions on points of law, are already routinely published online. Appeals to the Upper Tribunal are made on points of law, meaning that these decisions are likely to be of most interest and use to practitioners of the law and to the public through the lens of media outlets. Given the status quo, we see no reason to change it, and we feel that it is not simply a matter of transparency but of independence of the judiciary—

[Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)]

I thank the Minister for giving way. Is it the Government’s position that they would like to see the publication of these decisions, but it is a matter for judges to decide? Or is it the Government’s position that they would not like to see the publication of these decisions? If it is the former, what are the Government going to do to encourage judges to make that change, if they will not accept this amendment?

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

Members of the public or any interested parties can apply to have decisions of the First-tier Tribunal published, and it is the case that that can be decided by members of the judiciary. We see no reason—to sidestep the binary choice the noble Lord presents—to enforce that position on the judiciary.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

It would probably ill behove me to predicate my answer on legislation that I have yet to see. As and when we get to the passage of that legislation, we can perhaps revisit this conversation, and he might want to bring back my words to haunt me, but as it currently stands, I cannot talk about legislation that, frankly, I have not seen.

[Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)]

I thank the Minister. I am obviously familiar with how difficult life can be at that Dispatch Box, and I have a great deal of respect for the Minister, who is of course deputising for the noble Lord, Lord Hanson. However, I am afraid his answers were not very satisfactory. In fact, if you had asked a First-tier Tribunal judge whether they would accept submissions made on the basis that “We like it how it is”, I suspect that you might get short shrift.

Therefore, although I am of course content to withdraw the amendments for now, I anticipate that we will bring them back on Report. I anticipate that this House will pass these amendments—it is obviously very interested in open justice and in the publication of judgments—so the world can see how our human rights decisions are made in immigration claims. Would the Government really try to overturn this in the House of Commons on the basis that “This is how it has been done, so we will leave it”? I find that difficult to believe. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill

Debate between Lord Katz and Lord Murray of Blidworth

Committee stage
Monday 8th September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord in Waiting/Government Whip (Lord Katz) (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for a short but legally quite forensic debate. It was probably almost too forensic for gone 10 pm on a Monday night. I shall do my best to address their concerns.

I shall start by talking a bit about Clause 48 and then move on to the amendments. The Government are committed to complying with their international obligations, including those set out under the Refugee Convention. As noble Lords will be aware, a key principle of the Refugee Convention is the non-refoulement of refugees to a place or territory where there is a real risk they would be subject to persecution. The noble Lord, Lord Murray of Blidworth, clearly and ably set this out.

The convention recognises that there must be limited exceptions to this principle. Article 33(2) of the convention allows refugees to be refouled where they are a danger to the security of the UK or have committed a particularly serious crime and, as a result, constitute a danger to the community. Clause 48 goes further than the previous amendments made by the Nationality and Borders Act by redefining the term “particularly serious crime” for exclusion purposes to now include individuals who have received a conviction for a sexual offence included in Schedule 3 to the Sexual Offences Act 2003. This is because this Government recognise the devastating impact of sexual violence on victims and our communities. We are fully committed to tackling sexual offences and halving violence against women and girls within a decade. Importantly, as it stands, Clause 48 allows the individual to rebut the presumptions both that they have committed a particularly serious crime and that, as a result, they constitute a danger to the community.

Amendment 159, tabled by the noble Lords, Lord Cameron and Lord Davies, seeks to remove the particularly serious rebuttable presumption. This would mean that asylum seekers or refugees who receive convictions for Schedule 3 sex offences would be considered for exclusion from the Refugee Convention with no ability to rebut the presumption that they have committed a particularly serious crime.

Similarly, Amendment 160, in the names of the noble Lords, Lord Cameron and Lord Davies, seeks to remove the same rebuttable presumption for sexual offences committed outside the United Kingdom, where that offence would have also constituted a Schedule 3 sexual offence had it been committed in the United Kingdom. Their Amendments 161A to 161E seek to make a number of changes to the provision, including removing the presumption that, where an individual is considered to have committed a particularly serious crime in relation to a Schedule 3 sex offence, they constitute a danger to the community of the United Kingdom as a result.

There is no definition of a particularly serious crime in the Refugee Convention and no direct uniformity in the interpretation adopted by other states parties. It is open to the UK to interpret the term in good faith, and that is what we are seeking to adjust with Clause 48. A good faith interpretation requires consideration of the ordinary meaning of the words and maintaining respect for the guarantees provided by the convention as a whole.

The rebuttable presumption mechanism provides a safeguard for individual offenders to rebut based on their individual circumstances. At the same time, it is important to note that Parliament has presumed that such offences will be considered particularly serious crimes for these purposes. Not only have those who receive convictions for Schedule 3 sex offences failed to respect the laws of the UK by committing these heinous acts, they have also undermined public confidence in the ability of the state to protect the public. This measure is limited by our obligations under the convention. Both the rebuttable presumptions must remain as a practical measure to ensure that we adopt a lawful approach.

In speaking to his amendments, the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, spoke at length and in quite technical detail about the alignment of the language of the 2002 Act. Rather than trying to go into detail now, I will undertake to write to the noble Lord about the issues of language alignment that he raised, so that we can get a properly considered and more legally watertight response than I can give at this hour.

Amendment 158 in the names of the noble Lords, Lord Murray and Lord Jackson of Peterborough, spoken to by the noble Baroness, Lady Lawlor, seeks to expand the definition of a “particularly serious crime” to immigration offences. We consider this amendment to be incompatible with the refugee convention. We understand the seriousness of individuals seeking to arrive in the UK through dangerous and unsafe means, which is why we are taking robust action to prevent it. That is what this Bill is all about. The noble Lord, Lord Murray, raised Article 2 of the refugee convention. Our view is that the Bill is utterly consistent with the principle that those coming here have responsibilities to obey the host nation’s laws. That is something that we feel runs through the Bill.

In terms of the actions that we are taking, Border Security Command is strengthening global partnerships to enhance our efforts to investigate, arrest and prosecute these criminals. We recruited an extra 100 specialist NCA investigators and intelligence officers, including staff stationed across Europe and in Europol, to drive closer working with international law enforcement partners to target smuggling gangs. This Bill will give the NCA new powers to tackle organised immigration crime and protect the UK’s border. As stated previously, it is open to the UK to interpret the convention in good faith, and it is considered that immigration offences that do not carry a custodial sentence of more than 12 months cannot in good faith be interpreted as a particularly serious crime. Given that explanation and the undertaking to write to the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, on the technical point of language alignment, I ask the noble Lord, Lord Murray of Blidworth, to withdraw his amendment.

[Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)]

I thank the Minister for that considered reply, and I am glad to say that I agreed with at least part of what he said. There is much to welcome in Clause 48. I concur that it is appropriate for a person who is convicted of an offence listed in Schedule 3 to the Sexual Offences Act to fall within the definition, so the Minister and I agree on that point at least. He said that, in the view of the Government, our amendment is not consistent with the refugee convention, but I did not discern particularly clearly why. No doubt, the Minister and I can explore that in correspondence prior to Report. With that, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.