Migrant Crossings: Naval Assets

Lord Alton of Liverpool Excerpts

Wednesday 6th February 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

No, my Lords, we are not.

[Lord Alton of Liverpool (CB)]

My Lords, will the Minister reconsider the Written Answer she gave me last week about some of the Iranians who have fled their own country because of persecution, or even because they were facing execution for reasons such as religious belief or coming from particularly at-risk minorities? She said that it would be impossible to carry out a manual count of those who have come across the channel and look at the reasons why they have come, to identify whether they are economic migrants or genuine refugees fleeing persecution.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

When I wrote to the noble Lord saying that we could not do that, it was simply because the data was not available to disaggregate, but I will look at his Written Question again and see whether I can give him any further information.