Illegal Migration Bill

Tom Hunt Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 13th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Tom Hunt (Ipswich) (Con)]

rose—

[Yvette Cooper]

I will give way to the hon. Member if he will now support our proposals for a cross-border police unit to go after the criminal gangs.

[Tom Hunt]

I actually have another question. Would the right hon. Member explain why the Leader of the Opposition, when he was a human rights lawyer, once said that there was an undertone of racism in all immigration law? Does he continue to believe that?

[Yvette Cooper]

Immigration law is important, but the problem is that, at the moment, a huge amount of immigration law is not even enforced. There has been an 80% drop in the number of people who have been unsuccessful in the asylum system and been returned—an 80% drop since the Conservatives came to office. At the same time, our asylum system, under the Tories, is in total chaos. Only 1% of last year’s cases have had even an initial decision. Home Office decision making has been cut by 40%, the backlog has trebled in the space of just a few years, and thousands of people are in costly and inappropriate hotels.