Channel Crossings in Small Boats Debate

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Department: Home Office

Channel Crossings in Small Boats

Clive Efford Excerpts
Monday 22nd November 2021

(3 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Priti Patel Portrait Priti Patel
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Our Parliament is sovereign, and that is why we will work assiduously to ensure that the Nationality and Borders Bill gets through and gets Royal Assent. Then we can absolutely deliver for the British people.

Clive Efford Portrait Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab)
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The figures this year have tripled to 25,000 people making crossings. On the current trajectory, that is projected to increase to 78,000 next year. Last week, the Home Secretary said that she had come to an agreement with French authorities to say that there would be a 100% reduction in crossings, yet the French authorities said they knew nothing about it. When she says that she is having negotiations that will effectively reduce the number of crossings, who exactly has she been talking to?

Priti Patel Portrait Priti Patel
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First, I have been directly engaging with the French Government and the French Interior Minister. In regard to that comment about stopping crossings 100%, those were not my words but those of the French Interior Minister.