Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Shabana Mahmood and David Williams

Monday 26th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Shabana Mahmood]

I am surprised by the correspondence that the hon. Member has received. She is welcome to share that with me. That is absolutely not the case for the announcements made in September.

[David Williams (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Lab)]

In Stoke-on-Trent, whether it is Kidsgrove or Tunstall, residents tell me that they are fed up with being terrorised by off-road bikes that tear through our parks and our streets. Will the Minister please reassure me that Staffordshire police will have the neighbourhood officers, the funding and the powers available to them to deal with those who are making life a misery for others?

Asylum Policy

Debate between Shabana Mahmood and David Williams

Monday 17th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Shabana Mahmood]

I can assure my hon. Friend that we are engaging in intense law enforcement work through the National Crime Agency, and we are working collaboratively with our partners in Europe, especially in France. There have already been 350 disruptions of organised immigration crime activity. We have confiscated numerous small boats ourselves, and we are also working with our European partners to do that. The sum total of all those efforts has been to prevent 20,000 illegal crossings across the channel already, and we will grow this work, because we know that it is an important part of how we deal with the problem of small boats.

[David Williams (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Lab)]

This is about fairness. My constituents across Stoke-on-Trent North and Kidsgrove are good, kind and compassionate people, and we have a proud tradition of supporting those who need our help the most, yet they know, as we all do, that the immigration system is broken. Does the Secretary of State agree that, unlike the previous Government, who were more concerned about campaigning on the matter, we must take action to bring back the fundamental British value of fairness, so that we can resolve these issues at our borders?

[Shabana Mahmood]

I agree with every word my hon. Friend said. Fairness and contribution are Labour values and British values, and they underpin the totality of these reforms.