Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Prinsley Excerpts

Monday 5th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Shabana Mahmood]

The hon. Member will know that the methodology has changed. In fact, the numbers have stayed relatively flat. He will also know that it is a freedom of all our citizens that if they are able to work somewhere else, they may choose to do so. This Government are not going to interfere with that.

[Peter Prinsley (Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket) (Lab)]

T4.   Happy new year, Mr Speaker. My visit to France with the Select Committee on Home Affairs exposed the reality on the beaches: French officers facing pitched battles against violent smuggling gangs to stop hazardous boats launching. Many of the crossings are successfully thwarted. Does the Minister agree that the populist myth that our French partners are simply waving migrants through is not only offensive to those brave officers risking their lives but undermines the critical intelligence sharing that is needed to address this sinister trade, and that the support provided by the Sandhurst funding is money well spent?

[The Minister for Border Security and Asylum (Alex Norris)]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his work in this area and to the Select Committee for its work and its recent visit. My experience of working with France is that it wants to solve the shared challenge. There is no silver bullet, but my hon. Friend has mentioned ways in which it can be solved. That is why we have the “one in, one out” pilot, as well as our ordinary day-to-day intelligence co-operation. We want to do more with our neighbours and solve this problem together.