(Redditch) (Con):...Finally,
I will address illegal migration. We are a generous, open and
tolerant nation, blessed with a keen sense of fairness. We
welcome refugees—just look at how we have opened our homes to
those fleeing war in Ukraine and Syria, as well as to those from
Hong Kong—but our asylum system is being undermined by mass
economic migration from safe countries such as Albania. I would
like to have seen more in the Budget on resources and the plan to
help the Home Office, the National Crime
Agency law enforcement, Border Force and
intelligence services join together in tackling the issue. There
is no single solution. The work that the Prime Minister and the
Home Secretary are doing to reach agreements with France and
Albania in particular can only be helpful. However, as a former
Home Office Minister who led on violence against women and girls,
I met the genuine victims of modern slavery, sex trafficking, and
child and forced labour, whose stories are appalling and
heartbreaking, and I am disgusted that our taxpayer-funded
support systems are being hijacked by cynical smuggling gangs and
an army of legal aid lawyers to allow Albanian men to seek a
better life in our country by claiming to be modern slaves. By
any measure, that is a grotesque abuse of our compassion and our
scarce and finite public resources...
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