Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda

Debate between Alison Thewliss and Priti Patel

Wednesday 15th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Priti Patel]

The voice of Redcar speaks with great conviction and determination, as ever when he makes representations. He will have heard my comments with regard to the British Bill of Rights; that work is under way right now, and it will be for the Deputy Prime Minister to announce in due course.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

My constituent Azizullah is among the 80 families in my constituency who have relatives who are still stuck in Afghanistan. He has been in regular contact with me since Afghanistan fell; he sent me a message yesterday to say that the Taliban are abusing his brother, trying to find his father and threatening their execution. If the Home Secretary were in my constituent’s family’s shoes, would she stay in Afghanistan and wait to be executed? Or does she advise them to try to get to safety in Glasgow any way they can, because there is no safe and legal route for Azizullah’s family and the other 80 in my constituency?

[Priti Patel]

Of course, there has been a scheme specifically for people from Afghanistan to come over.

[Alison Thewliss]

Not in my constituency.

[Priti Patel]

The hon. Lady is very welcome to share details with the Refugees Minister.

[Alison Thewliss]

I have multiple times, and got no response.

[Priti Patel]

Then I am happy to get a response for her. If she would send me the details, I will absolutely pick that up.

Global Migration Challenge

Debate between Alison Thewliss and Priti Patel

Tuesday 19th April 2022 Commons Chamber

[Priti Patel]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. One answer will be in the policy working and the removal of people to Rwanda. It will also be in overcoming many of the obstacles and hurdles, some of which colleagues have touched on this afternoon, including the legal and other barriers we face in removing those with no legal basis to be in the United Kingdom. The other point to make is that the long-term impact has to be to start disrupting the business model of the people smugglers by breaking up the evil people-smuggling gangs and going after them with more prosecutions, making sure the pilots of those small boats are prosecuted in the way I explained earlier in my statement. That not only takes a whole-of-Government approach, but also means we have to work with our international partners across Europe and further afield.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

My constituents want none of this despicable plan. As the chair of the all-party group on immigration detention I went to Napier barracks. It is not fit for purpose: it is cold, bleak and lacking in dignity and privacy. Vulnerable people struggle to get medical, social and legal support but at least we could visit. Can the Home Secretary tell me how facilities in Rwanda will be scrutinised, particularly given that Human Rights Watch says of Rwanda:

“Arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and torture in official and unofficial detention facilities is commonplace”?

[Priti Patel]

I would be delighted to tell the hon. Lady how accommodation facilities in Kigali in Rwanda will be scrutinised. That is part of the monitoring work the Home Office and technical officials have established and is part of the memorandum of understanding—as if she has read the details in the MOU. Secondly, the hon. Lady’s characterisation of Napier is grossly wrong.

[Alison Thewliss]

I have been there.

[Priti Patel]

As we have as well. The hon. Lady will also be aware of the facilities that have been put in place—all the recreation, leisure, legal and accommodation facilities that UK taxpayers are paying for, the costs of which are going up and up and up.

Ukraine

Debate between Alison Thewliss and Priti Patel

Tuesday 1st March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Priti Patel]

I say to my hon. Friend that clearly we will do everything we can to help and support. It is very difficult. He will know from his constituent that things are getting really hard in country.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

My constituent’s wife is a Ukrainian national who was granted a spousal visa last week, but in order to travel to the UK, she needs that visa added to her passport. The couple were in Poland when the invasion occurred, and neither the British embassy nor the third-party TLScontact can help. Can the Home Secretary therefore make urgent arrangements to allow the bureaucracy to take place in Warsaw, rather than their travelling back into the path of danger in Lviv, as the UK visas advice line asked them to do?

[Priti Patel]

I am sure that can be done, because that will be documents of permission to travel.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alison Thewliss and Priti Patel

Monday 28th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Priti Patel]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right; drugs are a scourge across society and they blight communities. We have a great deal of work taking place on drugs, and I will happily meet him and any colleagues to discuss that. Not only do we, first and foremost, have the county lines programme, but we believe in supporting individuals who suffer from addiction, and that is exactly what Project ADDER is doing.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

2. What assessment has she made of the potential effect of the Nationality and Borders Bill for people who have experienced sexual violence.

Policing and Prevention of Violence against Women

Debate between Alison Thewliss and Priti Patel

Monday 15th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Priti Patel]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. I have met many schoolgirls who are a part of that campaign. We will consider all options as part of the VAWG strategy.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP) [V]]

On Sunday, I shed a tear, along with so many other women, at the gates of Queen’s Park, where ribbons and tributes had been left in memory of Sarah Everard, and for Moira Jones who was raped and murdered there in 2008 and all women who have experienced abuse at the hands of men. May I ask what the Home Secretary is going to do to change the toxic culture we have that diminishes and minimises women’s experience, and to challenge the whole spectrum of men’s behaviour so that my daughter and all young women can grow up without living their lives in fear?

[Priti Patel]

The hon. Lady has an opportunity to join us. She has heard me speak today, as all colleagues have, about the need to contribute to our VAWG strategy. This is not about the work of one individual; this is about what we do collectively, together, in terms of cultural norms and a change in behaviours. We all have a role to play and I urge her to join us in that effort.

Public Order

Debate between Alison Thewliss and Priti Patel

Monday 8th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Priti Patel]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. He will know of the operational independence of our police forces. Obviously, police and crime commissioners have responsibility for the totality of policing within their force areas. When it comes to resource and support of our police officers, I am unequivocal: we have given the police the highest funding uplift in more than a decade; we are equipping and training them so that they are equipped at the highest level and to the highest standard, and that, of course, will continue.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP) [V]]

The use of rubber bullets in the UK is, thankfully, rare, but not so in the US. It has been identified that the bullets have a 15% rate of permanent disability and a 3% fatality rate. Can the right hon. Lady assure me that they will not be used here, and, if they will not be used here, will she end their export to the US?

[Priti Patel]

I have just been reliably told by the Policing Minister that rubber bullets are not authorised for use on the mainland.

Points-based Immigration System

Debate between Alison Thewliss and Priti Patel

Monday 24th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[Priti Patel]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise the EU settlement scheme. She will have heard me say that so far 2.8 million people have been granted settled status, and there have been over 3 million applications.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

My constituent Naseer Afridi is one of many highly skilled migrants who have been put into debt and bankrupted as a result of this Government’s attitude to migrants in paragraph 322(5) of the immigration rules. Does the Home Secretary not realise how insulting it is when she says that she will bring in highly skilled migrants, given that these highly skilled people have been treated so badly by her Government?

[Priti Patel]

I would say the complete opposite. The system that we will bring in will end discrimination and show that we are being firm and fair. Everybody who has the right level of skill can come to the United Kingdom, and they will be treated equally and fairly.