Asked by: Richard Quigley (Labour - Isle of Wight West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps he is taking with international partners to help tackle irregular migration to the UK.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We engage regularly with our international partners on irregular migration, with a commitment to tackling people trafficking and the gangs profiting from it. In July we declared steps to reinforce our cooperation with Europol and announced up to £84 million for projects across Africa and the Middle East to address the reasons why people flee their homes. Through our new Border Security Command, we will also intensify efforts in transit countries to break the business models of these gangs including by disrupting the supply chains of small boat equipment and prosecuting those responsible.