DRAFT AUTHORITY TO CARRY SCHEME AND CIVIL PENALTIES REGULATIONS 2023

Patrick Grady Excerpts

Tuesday 7th February 2023 General Committees

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Robert.

I do not think anyone is disputing the need for sensible border security and counter-terrorism provisions. Obviously, they already exist in the preceding regulations, and of course the SNP understand the need to update them to reflect the technological developments to which the Minister referred. Concerns arise when there is a risk of ministerial overreach or the acquisition of powers that stretch beyond the intention of the original primary legislation.

There are particular concerns that some of the provisions we are discussing may become a vehicle for enforcing a hostile immigration environment by stealth or, indeed, quite blatantly rather than acting purely as the counter-terrorism provisions which the Minister outlined. That includes the extension of the regulations governing no-fly orders to individuals who have been or would be refused entry clearance on a visa under the immigration rules. That means the relevant definition then suddenly becomes very wide. I can think of constituents who have acquired visas quite legitimately. What happens if they have to return home or to their country of origin for family reasons when their visas start to expire and they are in the process of applying for a new one? Will such individuals be stopped at the border and sent back until they can regularise their paperwork? If so, where is the capacity in the Home Office to sort out such regularisation? We all have countless examples of people who cannot get their paperwork processed in time. That is particularly true among the academic community, which represents a significant proportion of the Glasgow North constituency as well as in other parts of Scotland.

I seek a key assurance that the proposed rules will not prevent any individual from claiming asylum on presentation at the UK border, whether that is an airport, seaport or the channel tunnel terminals. That is very important. I hope that the Minister, unlike many of her colleagues who seem to refuse to answer the question, will confirm that the ability to claim asylum is a human right. I hope she will confirm that there is no such thing as an illegal asylum seeker. If the provisions in the SI are used to enforce the Government’s hostile environment and their intention to stop people coming here and seeking refuge, we should be concerned. I will be very interested to hear the Minister’s response to that.