Asylum Hotels: Migrant Criminal Activity Debate
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Edward Leigh
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Asylum Hotels: Migrant Criminal Activity
Edward Leigh Excerpts(1 day, 22 hours ago)
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Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)
This is a real national crisis, and there is such an outcry and such outrage in the country that there is a real danger that people will take the law into their own hands, which we all deprecate. We have to solve this, and the only way to do so is to have a reasonable and proper deterrent. We must arrest the people who land on our shores, detain them and send them back to where they came from. The Human Rights Act 1998 was never intended to cover illegal immigrants of this sort. We have to do this for all our sakes; otherwise, people will wrongly take the law into their own hands.
Dame Diana Johnson
As I just said to the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Sarah Olney), who speaks for the Liberal Democrats, peaceful protest is completely acceptable. We understand that there are different opinions on immigration in this country, and people should be allowed to voice those opinions. When that turns into violent disorder, as we have seen, it is not acceptable. I know that the police behave in a very professional way. They allow protests to take place, but they clearly have to keep the King’s peace as well. The Father of the House is correct to say that we need a functioning system, where applications are dealt with swiftly, people are not waiting for years for applications to be decided, and those who should not be in this country are removed.