Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Priti Patel and Stephen Crabb(2 years, 10 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Priti Patel)
I would like to begin my remarks this afternoon by paying tribute to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Erdington. He was a member of the shadow Home Affairs team, and he sadly passed away the week before last. Jack was well loved by everyone and a hugely respected Member of this House. Along with all colleagues, I would like to pay my respects to him and send my condolences to Harriet and their family.
These crossings are unfair, unacceptable and lethally dangerous. They are totally unnecessary, as France and other EU member states are safe countries with long-established asylum systems.
Stephen Crabb
I thank the Home Secretary for that reply, and I associate myself wholeheartedly with her remarks about the late member for Birmingham, Erdington.
I know that the Home Secretary has been requesting the assistance of the Royal Navy to reduce the number of illegal channel crossings, and I look forward to seeing growing co-operation between her Department and the Ministry of Defence. Does she agree that it is surely right to deploy all the available resources and tools to shut down the routes used by the cruel people smugglers and to protect lives at sea?
Priti Patel
My right hon. Friend’s question is an important one because, as all hon. Members will be well aware, I asked for MOD naval assets and support back in 2020, because no Department can resolve the complex issue of channel crossings on its own. It is also right, having called for MOD involvement, that we now bring the whole machinery of government, the ultimate utility, together to ensure that we work collectively to protect our borders. My right hon. Friend is right about the wider issues on immigration, and that is why we have the new plan for immigration.
UK Border: Covid Protections
Debate between Priti Patel and Stephen Crabb(3 years, 10 months ago)
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
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Priti Patel
I refer the hon. Gentleman to my earlier comments. I have been very clear about the measures that have been brought in since January last year. Any Member of this House saying that the Government have not taken action is completely wrong. I would be more than happy to write to him with the list of every single step and measure—from the Home Office, the Department for Transport and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office—that has been brought in at the border.
Stephen Crabb (Preseli Pembrokeshire) (Con) [V]
I know that the Home Secretary understands the importance of trade and the pressures facing many UK hauliers right now, so will she confirm that, regardless of what new measures are brought in at the border, hauliers will get all the support they need to keep vital trade flowing in and out of the country?
Priti Patel
My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. The role of hauliers—for goods, freight and medical supplies—has been at the forefront of all our actions when it comes to keeping goods flowing. I point my right hon. Friend to the work and testing measures that he will have seen at our ports—at Dover. These are important measures that do exactly that; they help to keep goods moving, and that will continue.