Extracts from Parliamentary proceedings: National Crime Agency - Jul 17
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Extract from Consideration of Lords message to the Illegal
Migration Bill The Minister for Immigration (Robert
Jenrick):...Lords amendment 103B, tabled by the Opposition, relates
to the National Crime Agency Again, it is a non-issue and the
amendment is either performative or born out of ignorance and a
lack of grasp of the detail. The NCA’s functions already cover
tackling organised immigration crime, and men and women in that
service work day in, day out to do...Request free trial
Extract from Consideration of Lords message to the Illegal Migration Bill The Minister for Immigration (Robert Jenrick):...Lords amendment 103B, tabled by the Opposition, relates to the National Crime Agency Again, it is a non-issue and the amendment is either performative or born out of ignorance and a lack of grasp of the detail. The NCA’s functions already cover tackling organised immigration crime, and men and women in that service work day in, day out to do just that. There is no need to change the statute underlying the organisation... Stephen Kinnock (Aberavon) (Lab):...We are determined that the National Crime Agency will be strengthened so that it can tackle the criminal gangs upstream. Too much focus by this Government has been on slashing tents and puncturing dinghies along the French coastline, whereas Labour has set out its plan for an elite unit in the NCA to work directly with Europol and Interpol. The latest amendment from Lord Coaker, Lords amendment 103B, attempts to strengthen the NCA’s authority, and we support it without reservation. We are also clear that there is a direct link between gaining the returns agreement that we desperately need with the EU, and creating controlled and managed pathways to asylum, which would allow genuine refugees to reach the UK safely, particularly if they have family here. Conservative Members refuse to make that connection, but we know it is in the interests of the EU and France to strike a returns deal with the UK, and dissuade the tens of thousands of asylum seekers who are flowing through Europe and ending up on the beaches of Calais. The EU and its member states will never do a deal with the UK unless it is based on a give-and-take arrangement, whereby every country involved does its bit and shares responsibility... Sir John Hayes (South Holland and The Deepings) (Con):...As for the motion to disagree with Lords amendment 23B, we must keep this matter in perspective. There is no evidence whatsoever that the vast majority of people coming to this country in small boats, or indeed a significant number of them, are seeking shelter from persecution because of their sexuality, and it is a distortion to pretend otherwise. In respect of the motion to disagree with Lords amendment 102B, this business of “safe and legal routes” is, again, a distraction, and a detachment from the urgency of this problem. The amendment is unnecessary and seems to constitute legislative grandstanding, for under section 1 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013, the functions of the National Crime Agency already extend to combating all types of organised crime, including organised immigration crime...
Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North)
(Ind):...Thirdly, a year ago the Home Affairs Committee published
the results of our inquiry into channel crossings and identified
a slew of robust measures that the Government could deploy to
stop small boat crossings and create a fair and efficient asylum
system. They included the creation of safe and legal routes and
international initiatives by the National Crime
Agency to combat people smugglers, both of which
are the subject of Lords amendments under discussion today. For context, OPEN HERE Extracts from Lords consideration of Commons reasons relating to the Illegal Migration Bill The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Migration and Borders (Lord Murray of Blidworth) (Con):...Amendment 103B seeks to confer an explicit statutory function on the National Crime Agency to combat organised immigration crime connected to illegal entry into the United Kingdom via the channel. As the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, will be fully aware, the NCA’s functions already extend to combating all types of organised crime, including organised immigration crime. Following the pledge made by the Prime Minister last December to stop the dangerous small boat crossings, the Government have doubled the funding for the next two years for the multiagency organised immigration crime task force, of which the National Crime Agency is a leading component. Our determination to tackle the criminal gangs that facilitate the channel crossings is not in doubt. It remains the case that this amendment is not needed...
Lord Coaker (Lab):...I have to move on to
Motion H1 before I forget. It deals with the National Crime
Agency I put this before the House simply to say
that there has to be at least one part of the Bill that deals
with tackling the criminal gangs that organise the misery before
us. All the way through the Bill’s passage we have talked about
the victims and what we are going to do to stop the boats. There
is not a single person in the Chamber who does not want to do
more to tackle the criminal gangs. All I have asked, and all we
are asking for through this Motion, is for the Government to
consider how they tackle this in a more coherent, constructive
and urgent way. Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con):...Moving on to deal with the revised Amendment 103D, to which the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, spoke, he seeks to confer an explicit statutory duty on the NCA director-general to produce a report within a period of three months, beginning with the day on which the Act is passed and every three months thereafter. I am sure that noble Lords will join me in thanking the officers of the National Crime Agency who consistently bring their expertise and dedication to combating serious and organised crime and making the UK a safer place. With regard to publishing reports, surely noble Lords can agree that the NCA’s time is better spent focusing on reducing serious and organised immigration crime and arresting the criminals behind it rather than producing reports. One has only to read the NCA’s annual report to appreciate the range of activities it is already engaged in to help tackle the cross-channel people-smuggling gangs. The NCA has also published its annual plan for 2022-23, which sets out priorities for the year ahead and how it will deliver them. I commend it to noble Lords...
Lord Murray of Blidworth: That this House
do not insist on its Amendment 103B, to which the Commons have
disagreed for their Reason 103C.
Lord Coaker (Lab) For context, OPEN HERE |