Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Fletcher Excerpts

Tuesday 30th April 2024 Commons Chamber

[Ms Ghani]

The hon. Gentleman is already applying a lot of pressure through his chairmanship of the all-party parliamentary group on international freedom of religion or belief, which took forward a Bill just last week. My co-Minister Lord Ahmad met Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar, in March to discuss the issues that the hon. Gentleman has raised, and the former Foreign Secretary has raised the issue of the persecution of religious communities, including recent attacks against the Christian community in the Punjab. Those conversations will continue, and the fact that we have committed to continuing the role of the freedom of religion or belief envoy will provide us with the authority to do that.

[Nick Fletcher (Don Valley) (Con)]

4. What diplomatic steps he is taking to strengthen international co-operation on tackling illegal migration.

[Chris Clarkson (Heywood and Middleton) (Con)]

5. What diplomatic steps he is taking to strengthen international co-operation on tackling illegal migration.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Deputy Foreign Secretary (Mr Andrew Mitchell)]

Tackling irregular migration is a priority for Foreign Office engagement across our overseas networks, through international forums, including at the G7 and European Political Community, and bilaterally.

[Nick Fletcher]

Given the success of the agreement with Albania, which has considerably reduced the number of illegal immigrants crossing by small boats, does the Minister believe that more of these agreements are necessary, alongside our Rwanda policy?

[Mr Mitchell]

Yes, my hon. Friend makes a good point. He will have seen that on 17 April we signed an agreement with Vietnam to tackle irregular migration and reduce channel crossing casualties. The numbers of Vietnamese people coming across the channel has been one of the fastest rising groups in recent months.