Oral Answers to Questions

James Murray Excerpts

Monday 15th April 2024 Commons Chamber

[Chris Philp]

My hon. Friend is quite right to draw attention to the contrast between the excellent work done by Roger Hirst in Essex and the appalling job being done by Sadiq Khan in London. Sadiq Khan is the only one of the 43 police and crime commissioners to have missed his recruitment target and, tragically, police officer numbers are falling in London, in contrast to the rest of the country. Londoners will have a chance to cast their vote on 2 May, and I hope that they kick him out.

[James Murray (Ealing North) (Lab/Co-op)]

T8. My constituent Maysara is a British citizen, and his parents live in Gaza. His parents successfully applied for visas to visit him in the autumn last year, but they were unable to travel after 7 October, and their visas expired. I contacted the Home Office on Maysara’s behalf to ask if those visas could be extended, but I was told that his parents would have to make new applications. However, there are no functioning visa application centres in Gaza, so will the Minister explain what exactly my constituent’s parents should do?

[James Cleverly]

I am more than happy to look at the details of the case. The hon. Gentleman has to understand that the circumstances on the ground changed dramatically after Hamas’ brutal mass murder rampage on 7 October, and our security posture in the region has had to be enhanced. I am not making any implications about his constituent’s family, but he and the House will understand that we must be careful in everything we do when it comes to accepting people who are leaving Gaza in these circumstances.

Public Order

James Murray Excerpts

Monday 15th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Priti Patel]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The British public have made enormous sacrifices throughout the covid crisis, and it is right, as I have said, that the sacrifices they have made and the hard-won gains we have made as a country in tackling coronavirus are not lost through these gatherings. He is right, and I, too, would urge the Mayor of London, as I have been doing —as have the police, and the Met commissioner as well—to stand firm and discourage these gatherings. Quite frankly, if the Mayor of London is not prepared to do that, then we will absolutely do that, and fill that void.

[James Murray (Ealing North) (Lab/Co-op) [V]]

We know this Government have failed to implement the recommendations from the Lammy review and the Windrush lessons learned review, and they chose to hide the recommendations of Public Health England’s review of the impact of covid-19 on BAME communities. Can the Home Secretary explain why anyone should draw any confidence from the Prime Minister’s cross-governmental commission in response to the Black Lives Matter protests?

[Priti Patel]

The answer is very simple: we are the ones getting on and doing the job, and I completely disagree with the hon. Gentleman’s comments.