Contributions
3,654 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDNationality and Borders BillI thank both the right reverend Prelate and the noble Baroness for those points. Generally, in the asylum system in the UK, when someone is about to turn 18, their status changes.…08 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillI will not take the intervention just yet. I do not generally make misleading comments standing at the Dispatch Box. I will further write.08 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillI was just going to go on to say that we would be working the Crown Prosecution Service with regard to the new offences in the Bill. Although I related the press release referred…08 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillI have just outlined our policy intent. I was just going to go on to answer the question of the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett. There is a need to seek prosecution where there are…08 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillMy Lords, the Secretary of State has discretion to waive the full capacity requirement, and the introduction of this amendment would make it a statutory requirement rather than a…08 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillMy Lords, people do it for different reasons and that is where the difficulty lies. If we do not extend the offence of facilitating a breach of immigration law to include…08 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillMy Lords, I am saying that there are a number of ways in which we can seek to secure this—formal, informal, diplomatic and otherwise. I am not saying there is a single solution to…03 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillWe have had wide discussions about the UNHCR’s opinion on this and think that we are complying with international law. It is up to each state to interpret the refugee convention.…03 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillI do not know if the noble Lord heard my last point, but we do not necessarily need formal return agreements in place. We can do returns without formal agreements. The point about…03 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillThat is a very good point. I think we talked about this the other day, in terms of returns. We actually took far more than we returned under Dublin. At this juncture, I would say…03 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillI was going to go on to say that if no agreement is possible within a reasonable period, the individual’s asylum claim will be considered in the UK, but I am not disagreeing with…03 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillNo, I do not accept that Clause 15 is meaningless. I am agreeing that we need to have return agreements in place. I do not think anyone would disagree with that point.03 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillI think it is both. We need to assess people on a case-by-case basis and we need to have return agreements in place. It is not an either/or. I fully acknowledge the need to have…03 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillI am not disagreeing with the need to have formal arrangements in place to return people. On that we are at one. We also acknowledge that it might not always be appropriate to…03 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillThere are countries that we can return people to but, as I said, I will not provide a running commentary on ongoing discussions. Of course, there are countries that we return…03 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillCan I write to the noble Baroness on that? I suspect that I will misspeak if I try to answer because there are several things in that question that I am thinking about. I hope…03 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillMy Lords, I thank noble Lords again for speaking to this group of amendments. I appreciate the thoughtful and well-meaning intent of Amendment 68, but we cannot accept it. The…03 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillI agree with the noble Lord and I will clarify the point on this issue. He knows that I will clarify that for him. Amendment 67, if we can get on to that, seeks to weaken the…03 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillI thank noble Lords for speaking to these amendments. In terms of territorial waters, yes, I understand it to be 12 nautical miles at low tide. In terms of pushbacks, of course I…03 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillThat is not in dispute; I was just echoing the point made by my noble friend Lady Stowell about respect, because I think it is always a good thing to be promoting. I too listened…03 Feb 2022