Refugees and Migrants: Search and Rescue

Lord Soley Excerpts

Thursday 30th October 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Falkner of Margravine (LD)]

My Lords—

[Lord Soley (Lab)]

My Lords, a lot of these problems arise in certain north African towns, of which Alexandria is one—

[Noble Lords]

Order.

[Lord Bates]

Indeed. Just this morning, I was with the National Crime Agency, which has teams in particular areas around the world, including in Egypt. They are trying to identify just those types of people, ensuring that they are tackled and that their evil crime is stopped.

[Lord Soley]

Many of these people are coming from towns such as Alexandria; that is where the organisation is. I say to the Minister that, through the European Union, we can offer aid not only in policing those areas but in policing much closer to their shores. It is possible to work out with some of those north African countries ways of stopping this problem closer to shore.

[Lord Bates]

We will be willing to look at all those opportunities. On the subject of aid, this Government are in the lead in providing aid to some of those conflict zones, such as Syria, where we have pledged £700 million already. We recognise that there are two parts to this, and we need to work at both.