argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Duncan Charles Baker (Conservative, Centre-right): The Nationality and Borders Bill contains many similarities to what was used successfully by the Australians in its Operation Sovereign Borders policy in 2013. Can my right hon. Friend dismiss the comments in The Times last week that said: "Ministers have not given details of how the offshore centres will work. But Britain cannot detain the migrants at the centres…as that would breach international law" As a sovereign country in control of our law making, nothing could be further from the truth.
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Michael Jon Wood (Conservative, Centre-right): International people smugglers know that they only need to get the boats into British waters before their clients can claim asylum in the UK. Does the Home Secretary agree that we must therefore change legislation to allow for the option of offshore processing and return? What message does she think it sends when the Labour party calls for action in this place, but then whips its Members to vote against every part of the Bill that would make it happen?
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend has seen the Labour party in action in the Bill Committee, where it is opposing the solutions that this Government are putting forward and our strong legislation to break the people smuggling gangs and ensure that we can find safe and legal routes for people fleeing persecution. It is also important to add on this point that when it comes to processing asylum claims, we must have a differentiated approach. Through this Bill, we want to end some of the pull factors for the economic migrants who have been masquerading as asylum seekers and elbowing to one side women and children—the very people to whom we should be giving asylum.
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): The point about safe and legal routes is that they become the pathway to resettlement. The hon. Gentleman will be familiar with the Syrian resettlement regime, which a predecessor of mine and former Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), led when she was Home Secretary. It worked with the multilateral system and third-party agencies, which is the right and proper thing to do. They have the expertise in identifying people. Once they have identified people and we have identified the right resettlement pathways and where those people can resettle in the United Kingdom, we can then bring them to the UK. That is the right approach, because we have to look at how asylum seekers are being housed, and the pressures on housing and on local authorities, which we debated about an hour and a half ago, have to be taken into consideration. The resettlement routes must deliver for the individuals fleeing persecution, while showing that the United Kingdom and its Government are generous and welcoming and that resettlement does what it says on the tin.
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): The Nationality and Borders Bill is going through the House right now. As I have always said, we look at all options, and those options are in the Bill. Obviously, if other legislative measures are required, the Government will look at them and bring them forward.
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): In the interests of time, I refer the hon. Lady to the new plan for immigration. On page 6, she will see that: "The UK accepted more refugees through planned resettlement schemes than any other country in Europe in the period 2015-2019" That answers her question about the number of people who are coming here.
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Jack Edgar Brereton (Conservative, Centre-right): We have seen thousands of people coming into the country. Many areas, such as Stoke-on-Trent, which has already taken far more than its fair share, are continuing to see increased pressure. Will my right hon. Friend look at measures to reduce the numbers coming into the country and ensure that there is a much fairer share across the country?
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend and all hon. Members from Stoke-on-Trent in particular who have been very clear and engaged with me and the Department on the whole issue of asylum accommodation. They have demonstrated, with their local council leader, who has been outstanding, the principles of fairness and value in how we engage with local authorities. My hon. Friend knows my message on this issue: we need other local authorities across the United Kingdom to step up, we really do. I restate that the long-term plan—it will not happen overnight—is to move people out of the current accommodation that they are in. They are in that accommodation for various reasons linked to the pandemic and Public Health England guidance. The Government, across Government and with military support, will be building reception centres.
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): It is fair to say that that proposal of using juxtaposed controls to effectively process asylum seekers is not something that the British Government or the French Government would entertain. That is why we have wide-scale end-to-end reform in the new plan for immigration.
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Marco Longhi (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my right hon. Friend agree that unlike Opposition Members who would have completely open borders, Government Members will, with determination, sort out the problem of illegal immigration? Given that there are so many persecuted people in Calais, does she agree that perhaps we should ask the United Nations to investigate what is happening in that country?
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): If the hon. Lady would like to listen, rather than talk over me—[Interruption.] If the hon. Lady would like to listen, many of them are also trying to deceive local authorities about their own ages, claiming that they are children, and the new plan for immigration will fundamentally address that.
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady can shake her head, and I know that the Opposition have voted against age verification. On the point about the UNHCR—[Interruption.] If she would like to listen, rather than just yelling back, on the point about the UNHCR, safe and legal routes and resettlement routes are absolutely in line with the international convention on refuge. We are working with it, and we are having discussions with it. Only two weeks ago, I met the International Committee of the Red Cross, and I have been touch with UNHCR about these issues, because it is important not only that we stand by the convention—
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady can shake her head, but it is also important that we deliver safe and legal routes in a fair way, so that those individuals who are fleeing persecution are given the support they seek.
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Thomas Patrick Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Home Secretary share my surprise that the Opposition have decided to bring this urgent question forward, because of course not only have they voted against the Nationality and Borders Bill, but they are also voting against the Judicial Review and Courts Bill, which in ending Cart judicial review will make it far easier to deport illegal immigrants?
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Other
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): Well, I do not think I have much to add. My hon. Friend has absolutely made the case for voting for that Bill and for the reforms that we are bringing in, and the Labour party is behaving like a computer that says no all the time.
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): Absolutely wrong. That is the wrong characterisation, quite frankly, of the Nationality and Borders Bill and of the new plan for immigration, which has a range of measures, including a one-stop appeal process, the ability for claims to be processed in a different way and heard offshore, and, importantly, the ability to ensure that individuals who are fleeing persecution are given the help and the support they need. I find it absolutely extraordinary that Member after Member on the Opposition Benches stands up and just says, on the one hand, "You’re not doing enough as a Government to stop illegal migration," while on the other hand in effect saying, "What you are doing is not good enough, and we are voting against it." I have made it quite clear from the onset not only that this problem will take time to fix—
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): If the hon. Member would like to listen to my response, rather than yelling at me—he is not even speaking in a low voice, just yelling at me—there is no silver bullet, and the only solution is whole-scale reform. That whole-scale reform has to address pull factors, it has to ensure that we have safe and legal routes, it has to have a differentiated approach, it has to make sure that we can house people in the right kind of way and it has to ensure that we have the infrastructure in the United Kingdom to support people on resettlement pathways. Currently, our plan and the Bill will deliver that, whereas under the current broken system, which has not been reformed for 20 years, we are not able to deliver our asylum system in a fair way. The various pulls are actually bringing people to the country illegally, and we do need to stop that.
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Thomas William Randall (Conservative, Centre-right): Given that so many Labour Members would prefer us to be in ever closer political union with countries such as France, Belgium and Germany, does my right hon. Friend share my surprise that they do not consider those countries to be mature democracies with functioning asylum systems for the purposes of this exercise? Does she agree that people should claim asylum in the first safe country, rather than take dangerous routes across the channel?
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and there must be some honestly about what is happening with asylum seekers transiting through EU member states and coming to the United Kingdom. The whole of the EU is safe, and all those countries, including France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and other countries that are well known and have been referenced, have functioning asylum systems. We must break the pattern of asylum shopping, which is being provided by criminal gangs and people smugglers, and that is effectively what the Bill will do.
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): First, I stand by the claim, as do my colleagues in Europe—the French Minister of the Interior and I speak about this frequently—that 70% of those coming across France’s borders and across the channel to the United Kingdom are single men. I am not going to restate that position any more, and I refer the hon. Lady to comments I have made previously. I appreciate that she may wish to quote the Refugee Council, but quite frankly there is a fundamental point here: the current system is broken, this Government are trying to reform and change it, and the Labour party is trying to block that reform.
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
David Timothy Simmonds (Conservative, Centre-right): I commend my right hon. Friend on her recognition that the system, as it currently stands, does not reflect the humanitarian instinct of the British people. Regarding our ability to intervene against people smugglers in French territorial waters, what is her view of Frontex, the EU border and coastguard agency, which we might expect to play a similar role to that played by the UK Border Agency on this side of the English channel?
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): That is a great question, and Frontex in particular has an important role to play. I have travelled across certain EU countries and seen Frontex in operation, but not in France, and not with our near neighbours and on our near borders. The Commission is under pressure right now as it has been asked by many member states to provide broader protection. That is out of our remit and a matter for the Commission, but it is vital that it steps up. The lack of border protection is having an ongoing, knock-on impact on people smugglers and on porous borders, and on people coming to the United Kingdom.
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): On the hon. Lady’s ultimate point, the Nationality and Borders Bill is an important piece of legislation to fix the broken asylum system. This is not just about the Conservative party being in power; when the Labour party was in power it did nothing to fix the asylum system. We are tackling this issue. I appreciate that Labour Members will not support the Bill, but at the same time they are supporting a broken system, and end-to-end reform of it is required. Yes, I want to fix the system—[Interruption.] The hon. Lady can shake her head and talk above me, but that is what we are trying to do through the Bill.
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Richard John Holden (Conservative, Centre-right): In 2019 my constituents rejected Labour’s open door immigration policy. Since then we have been getting on with delivering our new Australian-style points- based immigration system in the teeth of opposition from the Labour party. Will the Home Secretary listen to my constituents in Consett, Crook and across North West Durham, rather than to the Labour party, and agree that we must now adopt an Australian approach to stopping the small boats in the channel? Offshore processing, turning them back—whatever it takes to secure our borders and stop the awful human traffickers.
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. He speaks with passion and conviction on this issue for a very good reason, which of course is that the British public are sick to death of this. They are absolutely, heartily sick of what they are seeing, and that speaks to many of the abuses that take place in our asylum system and the fact that the system is broken. Yes, processing takes too long, and yes, we have had the pandemic; there is a range of reasons why this is the case, but we want to address it and fix it and tackle it long term. There are no simple solutions, which is why the legislation is so important.
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Jonathan Edward Gullis (Conservative, Centre-right): Let me start with a quote: "When a person leaves their country through fear, we consider that, as a general principle, such a person should seek protection in the first safe country where they have the chance to do so."—[Official Report, House of Lords, 5 April 2004; Vol. 459, c. 1684.] I agree with that quote, and the people of Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke agree with that quote. It is a quote of the Labour Minister, Baroness Scotland, in 2004—when Labour used to win elections. Does my right hon. Friend agree with that quote, and will she tell that lot over there to vote for the Nationality and Borders Bill?
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes a very important point. No one can dispute the fact that those who are seeking to claim asylum should do so in the first safe country. That is a long-standing principle, and it is one that we stand by.
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Brendan Clarke-Smith (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend may recall that the Leader of the Opposition once infamously said that all immigration controls are racist. Does she agree that all immigration controls are racist, or does she agree with me that that demonstrates not only that the Opposition cannot be trusted on small boats but that a Labour Government means open borders?
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend. First, I think Labour Members have made their position clear, not just on legal migration but on illegal migration, with their resistance to everything we have done on a points-based system, ending free movement and, obviously, our plans now to reform a broken asylum system and tackle illegal migration. The Bill is an important piece of legislation. We want to make it harder for the criminal gangs behind these crossings; we want to make the UK less attractive and viable for illegal migration, which really is crucial; and importantly—this is something that the Labour party has not been supportive of either—we want to remove those individuals with no legal right to be here, and we will do that through our legislation.
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Philip Thomas Hollobone (Conservative, Centre-right): Crossing the English channel in an overcrowded flimsy boat has been described as the equivalent of a pedestrian trying to cross both carriageways of the M25 in rush hour. In terms of humanitarian safety alone, the Home Secretary asked for constructive suggestions. Surely it is not beyond the wit of man for us to have joint naval patrols with the French, so that if migrants are intercepted at sea they are landed not at Dover, but back in France?
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Luke Morgan Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): In answers to questions, the Home Secretary has talked a number of times about age verification and people trying to cheat the system by coming in as if they are children. How would age verification work? How many other countries use it as a tool, whether in Europe or elsewhere in the world, to ensure that those who come are genuinely who they say they are?
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): This is an important question. My hon. Friend raises important points around the age verification of illegal migrants who pose as children. That poses wider security and safeguarding concerns. We have seen in previous years, I am very disappointed to say, grown adult men in schools, which poses wider safeguarding issues. My hon. Friend asks about other countries and the type of techniques they use. The techniques we are proposing in the Nationality and Borders Bill are used in many EU member states.
Channel Crossings in Small Boats — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Immigration
Priti Sushil Patel (Conservative, Centre-right): I disagree with the hon. Gentleman’s overall tone. This is a lively debate for a range of reasons, and there are very serious and important issues at stake. The Government are very clear on moral obligations, humanitarian commitments, standing by the refugee convention, international treaties, and working with the right multilateral agencies to provide help and support to those fleeing persecution. We stand by that. I have said many, many times over the course of the last couple of hours that that is work we are doing and will continue to do. There are 80 million people around the world who are displaced or fleeing their own countries for a wide range of reasons, but there is an important point to make. The United Kingdom cannot accommodate everyone, which is why the international community also needs to do much more in terms of safe and legal routes—we are working internationally on that—and why we are bringing in long-term reforms.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Other
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (Conservative, Centre-right): On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I wonder if you could advise me on how I can put on record my dismay, and that of my right hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells (Greg Clark), at the leaking of private Select Committee discussions ahead of our recent joint report on coronavirus lessons learnt. The report was ultimately agreed unanimously by Members of three parties on two Committees. I want to put on record my view that the hon. Member for Luton North (Sarah Owen) does an outstanding job as a Select Committee member, and I know that my right hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells has the same view of the hon. Member for Brent Central (Dawn Butler).
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Other
Nigel Martin Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank Mr Hunt for forward notice of his point of order. He asks how he can put it on the record—well, he has just done that, so congratulations on that. It is important that private discussions in Committees remain private. I am happy to join him in paying tribute to the hon. Members for Brent Central (Dawn Butler) and for Luton North (Sarah Owen), who I am absolutely certain work hard on behalf of their Select Committees. Anybody who sits on a Select Committee must know that it is a privilege to do so, and that there should be no leaking whatever.
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Mixed Topics
Nigel Martin Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Lady for advance notice of her point of order. It is not for the Chair to comment on the DVLA, but I can say that I am aware from other Members of Parliament that responses are simply not coming forward from it. I am concerned to hear that right hon. and hon. Members are not receiving responses, especially if the service is described as a hotline. The hon. Lady’s point will have been heard by Members on the Government Benches; I hope that speedy action is taken. She might wish to discuss the matter with Clerks in the Table Office, who will be able to advise her on ways to pursue the matter.
Health and Care Bill — House of Commons, 2021-11-22
Topic: Other
Richard Quentin Fuller (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for mentioning my new clause. We have a number of issues potentially to put to a vote later. Given what he has said and given that the Minister was a bit hazy about this issue in Committee, would he be minded to support my new clause if it were put to a vote and the Minister did not come forward with something more robust?