Tim Farron
Main Page: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)Department Debates - View all Tim Farron's debates with the Cabinet Office
(1 day, 9 hours ago)
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Dan Jarvis
Of course, I would be very happy to meet my hon. Friend and the CST, which I engage with on a very regular basis. He is right to describe this as a pattern of behaviour. I hope he accepts that we are doing everything that we possibly can, not just to deter and disrupt this activity, but to defeat it. He will have seen the decisive action over the weekend—15 arrests. Clearly, I am not going to prejudice ongoing investigations, and we do not know quite where those investigations will lead, but that is a significant level of activity by the Metropolitan police over the weekend. As I said earlier, anybody who is considering undertaking this kind of activity at the behest of some other entity for payment should have a very long, hard think about doing it.
Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)
In 1945, 300 Jewish children who had survived the Nazi death camps arrived in Windermere, where they received a welcome beyond their wildest dreams. In the years that followed, they fell in love with this country and contributed hugely, and they leave a legacy that we are deeply proud of. Yet today, many British Jews are fearful and that welcome feels like a distant memory to many of them—it is very remote. The story of the welcome of the Windermere children is the story of the real Britain; that is the story of what we are really like when people come here seeking refuge, accepting communities of all kinds. Will the Minister meet me and the families of the Windermere children so we can talk about how their legacy can be used today as a positive message, as we once again go toe to toe with the evil that is antisemitism?
Dan Jarvis
I am grateful to the hon. Member for raising those points. He is absolutely right that this abhorrent targeting has no place in our society—not now, not ever. Although I completely accept his characterisation of many British Jews currently feeling fearful, it is important to make the point—as I saw myself this morning—that the resilience and enduring decency of our Jewish communities, looking out for each other and working with a range of other community groups, are incredibly inspiring and impressive to see. We should not lose sight of that; that is a real light in a moment of darkness. To answer his question directly, of course I will be happy to meet him and the families.