Extracts from Commons
statement on Illegal Migration Update
The Minister for Immigration ():...The right hon. Lady
looks back to a mythical time when Labour was last in office—
when the Home Office, according to their own Home Secretary, was
deemed to be not fit for purpose. Labour calls for more safe and
legal routes, even though we are second only to Sweden in Europe
for resettlement schemes. It calls for more money for law
enforcement, even though we have doubled the funding of the
National Crime
Agency and our people are out there upstream
tackling organised immigration criminals every day of the week.
(Feltham and Heston)
(Lab/Co-op): The Minister was right when he said that we need to
stop people coming here by boat. Last night, Labour voted for the
establishment of a cross-border police unit in the National Crime
Agency to target the criminal gangs smuggling
people across the channel. That measure would make a huge
difference, in the short term and the long term, to the
protection of our borders and to the welfare of migrants, so why
on earth did the Government’s MPs vote against it?
: Because we have already
done it.
To read all the exchanges, CLICK HERE
Extracts from
Westminster Hall debate on Human Trafficking and Modern
Slavery
(Wellingborough) (Con):...In
2021, there were 93 prosecutions and 33 convictions for modern
slavery offences, as a principal offence, under the Modern
Slavery Act. On an all-offence basis, including where modern
slavery charges are brought alongside more serious charges, there
were 342 prosecutions and 114 convictions. Hon. Members might say
that that is good, but it is actually shockingly poor. There were
9,661 recorded modern slavery crimes in 2021-22; in fact, the
National Crime
Agency estimates that between 6,000 and 8,000
offenders are involved in modern slavery crimes in the UK. Victim
navigators will clearly help to increase the prosecution rate,
but modern slavery is currently a low-risk, high-reward crime,
and low prosecutions are not the only indicator of that...
(Witham) (Con):...In the
interests of time, I want to make two quick points. We must work
comprehensively and thoroughly to bring offenders to justice, and
our laws are too weak on this—they really are. On the level of
prosecutions, there was a targeted measure in the Nationality and
Borders Act last year to ensure that small boat pilots would be
focused on for prosecution, obviously through the right way. Our
National Crime
Agency which my hon. Friend mentioned, deserves
great credit. Much of the work it does is based on securing
intelligence information that can be disclosed only in court for
prosecution purposes. The agency’s work in this country must be
reinforced and bolstered at every single level...
To read the whole debate, CLICK HERE
