Joanna Cherry
Main Page: Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh South West)Department Debates - View all Joanna Cherry's debates with the Home Office
(3 years ago)
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Priti Patel
I thank my hon. Friend and all hon. Members from Stoke-on-Trent in particular who have been very clear and engaged with me and the Department on the whole issue of asylum accommodation. They have demonstrated, with their local council leader, who has been outstanding, the principles of fairness and value in how we engage with local authorities.
My hon. Friend knows my message on this issue: we need other local authorities across the United Kingdom to step up, we really do. I restate that the long-term plan—it will not happen overnight—is to move people out of the current accommodation that they are in. They are in that accommodation for various reasons linked to the pandemic and Public Health England guidance. The Government, across Government and with military support, will be building reception centres.
Joanna Cherry (Edinburgh South West) (SNP)
At the beginning, the Home Secretary said that she would like to hear some concrete alternative proposals from the Opposition, so I will give her one. In written evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights, Donate4Refugees suggested that the most effective way to deter channel crossings would be to:
“Allow people to claim asylum at our frontier controls in France”
and complete the initial stage of their application there. If it was accepted, the Home Office could
“transfer them to the UK on regular transport”
to commence
“the ‘normal’ UK process of dispersal accommodation and asylum support”.
Has she given any consideration to that idea?
Priti Patel
It is fair to say that that proposal of using juxtaposed controls to effectively process asylum seekers is not something that the British Government or the French Government would entertain. That is why we have wide-scale end-to-end reform in the new plan for immigration.