Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Home Office

Oral Answers to Questions

Tim Roca Excerpts
Monday 21st October 2024

(1 week ago)

Commons Chamber
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Yvette Cooper Portrait Yvette Cooper
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As the hon. Gentleman will know, the impact assessment is provided by the Home Office, and what we inherited from the previous Government was not simply the incredibly costly Rwanda programme, but also the retrospective element of the Illegal Migration Act 2023, which was so damaging that the shadow Home Secretary, when he was in the job, did not implement many of the measures. That retrospective element has cost the Home Office hundreds of millions of pounds, and those costs would go forward into the future.

Tim Roca Portrait Tim Roca (Macclesfield) (Lab)
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We want to support genuine refugees, but will the Home Secretary provide an update on the progress on returns and deportations of illegal migrants, and say how the new command arrangements improve on the arrangements of the previous Government?

Yvette Cooper Portrait Yvette Cooper
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My hon. Friend makes an important point. To tackle the chaos in the asylum system the rules need to be properly respected and enforced. That is why we have increased by more than 20% the enforced returns over the summer of those who have no right to be here. We have also increased the number of charter flights, including the biggest ever charter flight return.