(4 weeks ago)
Commons ChamberI can assure my hon. Friend that we keep all these issues under close monitoring, and we are doing our best to ensure that individual areas take their fair share of the burden when it comes to looking after people in our asylum system. Just to reassure her, we have sped up asylum decision making. The system that we inherited was paralysed, and we are getting it going again so that we can deal with this issue as quickly as possible.
This Labour Government inherited a situation from the Conservatives where we were spending almost £9 million every single day on asylum hotels, including the Crewe Arms hotel in my constituency. Will the Minister set out what steps she is taking to bring down those costs, as well as speeding up decision making, so that we can reopen the Crewe Arms as a hotel?
(8 months, 4 weeks ago)
Commons ChamberUrgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
The way to deter the small boat crossings is to deal with those who are organising and profiting from that immoral trade. That is what we are doing.
The shadow Home Secretary, the right hon. Member for Croydon South (Chris Philp), and Conservative Members are still banging the drum for the failed Rwanda gimmick. Does the Minister agree that if the previous Government were so confident that that policy would work, they would not have called an election before that theory could be put to the test?
My hon. Friend makes an intriguing point, given that Conservative Members have said repeatedly that they were about to start the Rwanda scheme the week after the election, and that all of a sudden it would work and be perfect—after 83,500 people crossed in small boats knowing that the scheme was legislated for and in place. I suspect, somehow, that the date of the election might have had a bit to do with the fact that they realised the Rwanda scheme would fail.