Stella Creasy
Main Page: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)Department Debates - View all Stella Creasy's debates with the Cabinet Office
(1 month, 2 weeks ago)
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Dan Jarvis
The law should, of course, always be applied without fear or favour. While I acknowledge the right hon. Gentleman’s points, I hope he understands the Government’s determination to address the issues he raised. The Government have been crystal clear about our commitment to reduce to zero the number of hotels being used to accommodate asylum seekers, and there is a commitment to carry out that process in a different way through the use of larger sites. The right hon. Gentleman will have heard the remarks I made earlier about the increase in the removal of foreign national offenders. This issue is a priority for the Government and for the Home Secretary, and we are working at pace to address the issues he raised.
Ms Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op)
The attack in Belfast on Monday night was horrific, and the scenes last night were terrifying. It is understandable that people are seeking answers, and that yet another horrific crime is facing public scrutiny and political debate. One of the challenges is that, right now, people are finding those answers online and in the toxic world of social media. We can either feed the tension that is creating, or we can dispel it by standing together against those who wish to target entire communities, and by being committed to replacing the fictions with fact.
I know the Home Secretary and the Minister have been looking at this issue, but what more can we do to help people to have access to trusted sources of information when it comes to difficult issues like this, so that we can challenge people who spread hatred? How can we lead from this place and deliver to the affected communities the information they need to be able to heal themselves and deal with the trauma of what they have seen?
Dan Jarvis
My hon. Friend raises a very important point. There will be agreement and recognition that activity online can provide extraordinary opportunities and benefits, but clearly it can also provide a toxic environment that drives the kind of criminality we have seen in recent times.
I hope my hon. Friend will understand that we are working at pace across Government through the defending democracy taskforce, and working with colleagues in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and right across law enforcement, as well as with operational partners, to make sure that activity online is monitored in a way that will best enable us to reduce and eliminate the kind of activity she referred to. She will understand that that is not an easy thing to do. We are constantly looking for the social media companies and the tech companies to exercise greater responsibility, but I assure her of the importance we attach to these matters. I have had meetings recently with ministerial colleagues to look at what more we can do, and I assure my hon. Friend that we are looking into that carefully.