Oral Answers to Questions

Shaun Bailey Excerpts

Monday 28th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

What steps her Department is taking to stop migrants crossing the English Channel illegally.

[Shaun Bailey (West Bromwich West) (Con)]

What steps her Department is taking to stop migrants crossing the English Channel illegally.

[Mark Eastwood (Dewsbury) (Con)]

What steps her Department is taking to stop migrants crossing the English Channel illegally.

--- Later in debate ---

[Chris Philp]

My hon. Friend is quite right to draw attention to the legal system. It is quite frankly not fit for purpose in this area when it comes to asylum and immigration enforcement matters. We are often frustrated by repeatedly vexatious legal claims, often made at the last minute with the express intention of frustrating the proper application of the law. I can confirm that we are working at pace on legislative options in the way that he describes, and that everything is on the table.

[Shaun Bailey]

My constituents in Wednesbury, Oldbury and Tipton are rightly angry at the images that they are seeing of people arriving on our shores illegally, often in small boats. To solve this crisis in the long term will require co-operation, and, whereas we in this country seem to be gold-plating a lot of the regulations that would enable us to solve this problem, many of our European partners are not. What representations is my hon. Friend making to our European partners to ensure that they actually follow through with the obligations that they have made?