Freight Crime

Sam Carling Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd December 2024 Westminster Hall

[Rachel Taylor]

I agree with the hon. Gentleman that regionally and nationally we need more emphasis on this crime. If the Government are to achieve their mission to kickstart economic growth and take back our streets, they must treat freight crime with the seriousness that it deserves.

[Sam Carling (North West Cambridgeshire) (Lab)]

My constituency has around 12,000 employees in the wholesale and retail trade sector, many of whom will be affected by freight crime. Indeed, the recent report by the APPG on freight and logistics named Peterborough as a key freight crime hotspot. Does my hon. Friend agree that measures to tackle freight crime are long overdue, and are essential for our plans to back British business?

[Rachel Taylor]

I thank my hon. Friend for his useful intervention, which I agree with. I was proud recently to launch the “Securing Our Supply Chains” report with the APPG and the Road Haulage Association, and I would like to raise its recommendations. The report highlights the clear damage that freight crime is doing to the UK economy. In 2023, there were 5,370 reports of heavy goods vehicle and cargo crime in the UK, and £68.3 million-worth of goods was stolen in freight crime. It is likely that £1 billion has been lost since 2020 due to this serious crime.

The report lays bare the stark issues affecting one of Britain’s most vital industries, in which 90% of businesses are small or medium-sized enterprises. It also makes it clear that the police do not feel adequately equipped to tackle freight crime. Such crime is not opportunistic; it is serious organised crime and that is why freight criminals target service stations, which have become freight crime hotspots.

The National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service has identified several service stations that are repeatedly targeted by freight criminals, including Corley services on the M6 in my constituency. In 2023 alone, Corley services experienced 76 offences of freight crime. Other crime hotspots include Stafford, which had 138 offences; Thurrock, which had 103 offences; and Warwick services, which experienced 87 offences. It is clear to me, as it should be to all Members present, that that means criminals have organised effectively to target certain service stations repeatedly. Will the Minister commit to working with the Department for Transport to improve service station security for freight drivers?

Asylum Seekers: Hotel Accommodation

Sam Carling Excerpts

Wednesday 20th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Dame Angela Eagle]

I am happy to check out the report, and I will write to my hon. Friend.

[Sam Carling (North West Cambridgeshire) (Lab)]

I am grateful to the Minister for coming to the House to set out the Government’s measures to deal with this issue. I share my colleagues’ amazement about the new-found concern of Conservative Members—[Interruption.] I am not sure why the right hon. Member for Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge (Sir Gavin Williamson) is heckling. This time last year, under the Conservative Government, we had more than 400 hotels and more than 21,000 hotel rooms in use for asylum seekers, and we were spending £8 million a day on hotels. Does the Minister agree that although the Conservatives were apparently happy with that, this Labour Government are not, and we are taking steps to deal with their mess?

[Dame Angela Eagle]

I thank my hon. Friend for his observations. Clearly, we begin from the situation that we found when we came into office. In this case, the system was in chaos, with a Rwanda scheme that was an unworkable and massively expensive distraction, which meant that no processing of any of the asylum claims made from March 2023 was happening. We have a huge backlog. We have had to switch the system, and divert resources from a failed Rwanda scheme into processing and the border security command, so that we can deal with the causes of the problem, rather than pretending that it does not exist.