Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Edward Leigh and James Heappey

Monday 20th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

Will the Minister confirm that the Ministry would never put serving personnel at risk by putting an open camp for illegal migrants in a serving base, and therefore any undertaking about that is worthless—that the most we will get at RAF Catterick is a closed detention centre?

[The Minister for Armed Forces (James Heappey)]

I am well aware of my right hon. Friend’s concerns. I am happy to meet him and discuss them further.

Migrant Crossings: Role of the Military

Debate between Edward Leigh and James Heappey

Tuesday 18th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[James Heappey]

France is, in my view, an entirely safe country. Migrants do not need to put themselves into the hands of people traffickers to be smuggled across the channel. I hope that they will soon see that there is no point in doing so because they will not get to enter the UK on their own terms if they do.

[Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

In the absence of Ministers having the political will to use pushback, what is the point in appointing a royal naval admiral to help Border Force to be a more efficient taxi service so that the migrants will know, “Now we’ve got the Royal Navy to pick us up—we’ll be taken safely to the UK, we'll be put in a hotel and we'll never, ever be sent home”? This is just an embarrassment. Will the Minister now co-ordinate with his colleagues to do what we have been suggesting for months and get rid of the pull factors—namely, ensure that we reform any piece of legislation necessary, including the Human Rights Act, and that people who do the illegal crossing are arrested, put in a prison and deported?

[James Heappey]

My right hon. Friend’s exhortations and those of colleagues have been heard.