(Orkney and Shetland)
(LD): Anybody who has the right to be here has the right to feel
safe and secure in being here. In the past couple of years, to
their credit, the Government have allowed in excess of 100,000
Hongkongers to move to this country, but we know that the
intimidation and persecution has followed them. In universities
up and down the country, they are shouted down, and they continue
to be intimidated. These police stations are part of the
infrastructure that enables that. To borrow a phrase from the
Foreign Secretary, is it not time that we should be pulling down
the shutters on them?
The Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire (): I completely agree with what
the right hon. Gentleman has said, particularly in relation to
the British national overseas Hong Kong citizens who have come
here. We have extended a very warm welcome to those people, who
are at risk of repression in Hong Kong now because of the Chinese
Communist party’s brutal repression of democratic freedoms and
other freedoms there, which this Government abhor in the
strongest terms. That is why we have offered refuge here to those
people.
The right hon. Gentleman is quite right to say that foreign
nationals residing in this country, regardless of their
immigration status, should enjoy all the rights and freedoms
around free speech and freedom from intimidation that we would
expect any citizen of this country to enjoy. I agree with him: it
is the duty of Government and the law enforcement services and
agencies to ensure that those freedoms and rights are protected,
including on campuses. I think the Department for Education is
doing some work in that area. Where Chinese nationals are
students at universities, they should be free from harassment and
intimidation—the same applies, of course, to other groups of
people, Jewish students
being another obvious example. It is vital that university
authorities take robust action to protect their students, whether
Chinese, Jewish or
from any other group, from any sort of intimidation on campuses,
which is totally unacceptable.
(Hornsey and Wood Green)
(Lab): What specific measures will higher education institutions
be encouraged to take, or if necessary what legislation will be
put in place, to protect BNO passport holders particularly, but
also young Iranian, Russian and Ukrainian students who feel under
surveillance, and others within the student body who are there
under a surveillance pact? We know this has been happening for
quite some time, and the Government’s response has been tardy.
Will the Minister undertake today to meet with the Higher
Education Minister, the right hon. Member for Harlow (), and to share immediate
advice following today’s news, so that we can have a reassurance
that all international students are safe?
: I completely agree with the
hon. Lady’s sentiment that international students—indeed, any
students—at UK universities should be free from intimidation, a
point I made in response to a previous question. Whether those
are Chinese students, Iranian students, Jewish students
or anyone else, they should not be getting intimidated. I will
just repeat the point I made earlier: individual universities,
first and foremost, should be ensuring the safety of students on
their campuses in the first instance.
