Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Kris Hopkins

Monday 10th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Kris Hopkins]

I thank my hon. Friend for her comments. I have asked my local police officers whether there are any laws or measures in place that could be used to do what I have proposed. They do not believe that there are such powers in place. However, I am willing to be—

[Mrs May]

My hon. Friend is making a powerful contribution. Certainly I am happy for the Home Office to take away his proposal and consider it seriously. We will come back to him on the matter, but he has made an important point about the relevance of those places to what is happening in terms of child sexual exploitation. We are happy to look at his proposal.

[Kris Hopkins]

To that end, I am grateful for the opportunity to speak and I look forward to working with the Home Office on the issue.

Abu Qatada

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Kris Hopkins

Thursday 19th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

My hon. Friend expresses concerns that I know have been expressed not only by Government Members in this House, but elsewhere, by members of the public. That is why it is so important that the Government have taken up the work being done to reform the European Court of Human Rights, particularly on its efficiency, but also on the issue of subsidiarity. Indeed, as I say, it is what my right hon. and learned Friends are pursuing, as we speak, at the Brighton conference.

[Kris Hopkins (Keighley) (Con)]

I suggest to the Home Secretary that, after many, many years, we can take comfort from the fact that the Labour party has finally recognised the seriousness of the need to kick this terrorist out of the country. Does she agree that if Labour had applied the same urgency and enthusiasm when in government, this country would be a safer place today?

[Mrs May]

The length of time that it has taken to take action is obviously a matter of fact, but of course what this Government did was resume deportation at the first opportunity.

Abu Qatada

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Kris Hopkins

Tuesday 17th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

I have made my views on this issue absolutely clear on a number of occasions. As I have said, a number of pieces of work are going on to strengthen the position of the Government and the UK generally in dealing with such issues. That is partly about working with the European Court to reform the way it operates, and partly about us looking at our own legal system to see whether we need to do anything to strengthen our hand here in the UK.

[Kris Hopkins (Keighley) (Con)]

I welcome the progress made by my right hon. Friend in ridding this country of this wretched man—something the previous Labour Government should have done many years ago. Will she use the experience gained in this case to start deporting the many other foreign prisoners who continue to reside in our prisons at our taxpayers’ expense?

[Mrs May]

I can assure my hon. Friend that we are working on the whole question of the deportation of foreign national offenders, the assurances we need from other countries and the need to ensure that we can do it more speedily and more efficiently than in the past. This is ongoing work and cannot be done at a drop of a hat, so it will take some time for us to put in place some of the arrangements we need to ensure that we can act with rather greater rigour.

UK Border Agency

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Kris Hopkins

Monday 20th February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

In a number of aspects, the report does indeed refer to the need for greater clarity in communications of all sorts that were taking place in relation to what was happening at the border. That is part of the work that will be done by the Home Office and the UK Border Agency.

[Kris Hopkins (Keighley) (Con)]

The failure of the previous Government to manage our borders and even know how many immigrants had come into the country was rightly punished by the electorate at the election. Does the Home Secretary agree that, unlike Labour, this Government will not tolerate failure by the Border Agency?

[Mrs May]

Indeed, that is why we are responding fully to the recommendations of the Vine report. Furthermore, as I have made clear to the House, we are changing the structure of the UKBA and the UK Border Force so that we can focus more on the need for the Border Force to secure our borders. That is what people want it to do, and it is what we want it to do.

Abu Qatada

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Kris Hopkins

Tuesday 7th February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

The precise details of how the bail conditions are enforced will be a matter for the police. Abu Qatada does not have immigration status and therefore he is not entitled to claim benefits.

[Kris Hopkins (Keighley) (Con)]

This individual supports terrorists who want to kill our children. Regardless of what somebody says in Strasbourg, we must protect the human rights of the good people of this country, so I ask the Home Secretary to take the lead and put this man on a plane to Jordan.

[Mrs May]

I believe the feeling of the whole House is the same as that of my hon. Friend, in that we all want to be able to deport Abu Qatada. That is why the Government are making every effort to negotiate with the Jordanians to see whether it is possible to put in place the assurances that would enable that to happen.

UK Border Force

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Kris Hopkins

Monday 7th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

The decision was taken by me as Home Secretary, together with the Immigration Minister.

[Kris Hopkins (Keighley) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend recognise that under the previous Government the public lost confidence in Labour’s ability to manage immigration and border controls, and that that drove a significant number of people into the hands of the far right? Does she agree that we should not let the people down in such a way?

[Mrs May]

I agree with my hon. Friend. Sadly, the immigration policy of the previous Government led to significant concerns among members of the public. This is an issue that matters to members of the public. It is this coalition Government who are taking action that I believe members of the public want us to take to reduce net migration into this country, to get rid of the abuse of student visas, and to deal with some of the other issues that led to the significant numbers of people coming into this country over the past 13 years under a Labour Government.

Gangs and Youth Violence

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Kris Hopkins

Tuesday 1st November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

The hon. Lady raised a number of issues. The amount of money made available to Hackney from the early intervention grant allocation in the current financial year was, of course, about £20 million. We will be identifying the areas that the Home Office funding will be going to. As I said in response to the right hon. Member for Salford and Eccles (Hazel Blears), we have also already put money into Greater Manchester, the west midlands and London—the three areas where most knife crimes are committed—in looking to work with projects to tackle those knife crimes. So that funding has been available.

Only a small number of adult gang injunctions have been introduced so far. As the hon. Lady will know, the injunctions were introduced only earlier this year, but their use is increasing. I am aware that there were some issues in the early days in relation to their implementation, but we are getting through those teething problems and the gang injunctions have been used in areas where they have been effective.

[Kris Hopkins (Keighley) (Con)]

I welcome the Home Secretary’s statement. Yesterday, two gang members from my constituency were found guilty and sentenced, one to an indefinite term for firing a double-barrelled shotgun in a drive-by shooting. Does she agree that violent criminals must be given the most serious sentences to stop them bringing fear and destruction to our towns, and that this Government will relentlessly pursue these individuals?

[Mrs May]

We will absolutely do that. I assure my hon. Friend that we are ensuring that tough sentences for the worst of our criminals are indeed available, and I commend his local police on having made those arrests.