Contributions
923 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDNationality and Borders BillMy Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have taken part in this debate. The starting point is that we are no longer members of the European Union and, by extension, the…08 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillI thought I made it absolutely clear when I said earlier that the court in that case made its decision against the legislative background at the time. Parliament is entitled to…08 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillMy Lords, I am grateful for the question. What is driving it, as I said a few moments ago, is the attempt to have a consistent and clear approach to decision-making. When you have…08 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillI am certainly not trying to be flippant. What I am saying is that we have a refugee convention that sets out our international obligations. We are abiding by those international…08 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillMy Lords, I begin with Amendment 107, tabled by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Etherton, whose analysis I listened to very carefully. It seeks to reflect the position in the…08 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillI am almost as new, I think, as the noble and right reverend Lord, but my understanding of procedure is that that is meant to be for questions. If the noble and right reverend…08 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillMy Lords, I really do not want to get into a procedural battle. I was trying to be both helpful to the Committee, given the time and pressure, and respectful, I hope, to the noble…08 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillMy Lords, I am not trying to be difficult here. What it means is that a woman, like anybody else, who has a proper claim under the refugee convention will find refuge in the UK.…08 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillMy Lords, I am surprised that anyone in a democracy is troubled by a Government listening to the people and putting forward legislation which, first, delivers on a manifesto…08 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillI really do not mean to be flippant. The consequence would be that every country would be interpreting the refugee convention in accordance with its terms. As a country, we are…08 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillAbsolutely, we want to toughen up on illegal migration. We want to make sure that people who have a right to come in are able to do so, and to make sure that people who do not…08 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillOn the first point, the position at the moment is that you have a reasonable likelihood test; what the noble and learned Lord, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, called the…08 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillWith respect, refoulement is a separate issue and, with greater respect, I will deal with it separately. What we are establishing here is what you need to do to establish your…08 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillRespectfully, what I said earlier is that it is not the arbiter of the interpretation of the convention. I do not think that is inconsistent with the point the noble and learned…08 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillThe pressure has come from the people of the United Kingdom, who elected this Government with an overwhelming majority.08 Feb 2022HANSARDNationality and Borders BillI have not been here as long as the noble Lord, Lord Rosser, but, with respect, I do not think it fair to ask me that question as I stand here. The Government receive…08 Feb 2022HANSARDCriminal Justice: Royal CommissionMy Lords, I have said on a number of occasions from this Dispatch Box that racial inequality in our criminal justice system goes back many decades. We are absolutely focused on…07 Feb 2022HANSARDCriminal Justice: Royal CommissionMy Lords, as I said in answer to the noble Lord’s Question on 6 July last year, due to the pandemic, we slowed work to establish the royal commission. Significant new programmes…07 Feb 2022HANSARDCriminal Justice: Royal CommissionMy Lords, since the Queen’s Speech in 2019, there has been the small matter of a global pandemic, which has affected the criminal justice system very substantially. We reacted to…07 Feb 2022HANSARDCriminal Justice: Royal CommissionMy Lords, one of the other things on which we score extremely high internationally is the quality of our judges. That ought to be mentioned as well. So far as prisons are…07 Feb 2022