Philip Hollobone
Main Page: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)Department Debates - View all Philip Hollobone's debates with the Cabinet Office
(13 years, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
It is obviously right to send assistance to tackle the growing refugee problem on Libya’s borders, but are efforts being co-ordinated with EU partners and others to prevent the turmoil throughout north Africa becoming an immigration problem for Italy and southern Europe?
The Prime Minister
My hon. Friend makes a very good point, and there are urgent conversations under way about that. At the moment, the pressure is on the borders between Libya and Tunisia and Libya and Egypt, and a lot of it involves migrant workers from Tunisia and Egypt returning to their countries, but, as I said in my statement, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development will visit the region soon. We are sending out technical experts to advise us on what is necessary, but I think that there is a real job for the European Union to work together and make sure that the situation does not turn, as my hon. Friend suggests, into a refugee crisis.