Debates between Richard Burgon and Stuart C McDonald during the 2019-2024 Parliament

Tue 20th Jul 2021

Nationality and Borders Bill

Debate between Richard Burgon and Stuart C McDonald
2nd reading
Tuesday 20th July 2021

(3 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Nationality and Borders Act 2022 View all Nationality and Borders Act 2022 Debates Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Richard Burgon Portrait Richard Burgon
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It appears that there is a twitching of a conscience one Bench back from the Tory Front Bench. If the hon. Gentleman has a conscience on these matters, if he cares about the people he purports to care about from Syria or from anywhere else, I would urge him to vote against the Bill, because this reactionary Bill should be killed off today.

Stuart C McDonald Portrait Stuart C. McDonald
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To bring things a little more up to date, if we are looking at the statistics about who is in these boats crossing the channel, the nationalities are Iranian, Iraqi, Syrian, Eritrean and Sudanese. People from almost all those countries have success rates when they claim asylum of about 60% or 80%. The vast majority of people crossing the channel are refugees. Instead of locking them up, let us look at their applications.

Richard Burgon Portrait Richard Burgon
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The hon. Gentleman makes an important point and brings some reality to this debate. This reactionary Bill should be killed off today.