Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chris Stephens and Suella Braverman

Monday 20th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Suella Braverman]

It really is, isn’t it, Mr Speaker? May I point out that Labour-run Croydon Council has just cut the graffiti cleaning team? Will the hon. Lady just give us some advice on how that has worked?

[Chris Stephens (Glasgow South West) (SNP)]

8. What recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Illegal Migration Bill on levels of (a) modern slavery and (b) sex trafficking.

Illegal Migration Bill

Debate between Chris Stephens and Suella Braverman

Tuesday 7th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Chris Stephens (Glasgow South West) (SNP)]

The Government will shortly be announcing their sixth immigration Bill since I arrived in the House in 2015, which tells us everything we need to know about their failures on immigration policy. However, I want to ask about the content of the Bill. Will the Home Secretary tell the House that she will not seek to revisit ouster clauses to prevent judicial review and that she will be mindful of the 2019 Supreme Court ruling that the presence of such clauses does not prevent a judicial review challenge based on an error of law?

[Suella Braverman]

I hope that the hon. Gentleman, on closer inspection of the Bill, will see what we have put forward. We will dramatically reduce the avenues and options for legal challenge, which are often used to thwart removal. It is important that we do that—within the law—to ensure that our operations can be delivered effectively.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chris Stephens and Suella Braverman

Monday 6th February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Chris Stephens (Glasgow South West) (SNP)]

T7. I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Last Wednesday, it was a pleasure to meet Home Office staff who were out on strike over pay and to protect their pensions. What interventions is the Secretary of State making to resolve that dispute, so that Home Office staff can process their many asylum applications, which have been mentioned today?

[Suella Braverman]

The hon. Gentleman is talking about industrial action, and there were instances of that by Border Force officers in the run-up to the new year. I was very grateful for the preparation and planning by Border Force management, and for the incredible support from members of the military to enable swift operations at the border, despite the industrial action.

Western Jet Foil and Manston Asylum Processing Centres

Debate between Chris Stephens and Suella Braverman

Monday 31st October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Suella Braverman]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. I speak to our heroic Border Force officials on a regular basis and they tell me about their first-hand experience. What they have seen is repeated and vexatious claims. They see people arriving and not making a claim, then they might see a lawyer and suddenly come up with a claim after they have seen their lawyer. They make repeated and late claims as well, because they know that that is how to game the system. There are real concerns about the practice of some lawyers—not all lawyers, but some—and I encourage the authorities to take action.

[Chris Stephens (Glasgow South West) (SNP)]

So is the Home Secretary acknowledging that there are human beings at the Manston centre who are being unlawfully detained for long periods? If so, what assessment has her Department provided to her of the prospect of someone issuing a legal challenge against her Department for this unlawful detention?

[Suella Braverman]

I am very clear that we have too many people at Manston, as of today, as we have done for some time now. That is why we are taking urgent steps to remedy the problem.