Clause 112 - Assisting Unlawful Immigration, &c.
Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill
4:00 pm
Mr Simon Hughes (North Southwark and Bermondsey, Liberal Democrat)
How many convictions have there been under the law and what is the range of penalties? The Minister says that the tariff was raised two years ago as a result of representations from the judiciary. Has there been further consultation and has any view been expressed that a penalty of 10 years is not enough? Should the offences of trafficking and of facilitating have the same upper limit? I understand the distinction that the Government draw between the offence that we are discussing and that concerning asylum seekers, which we shall discuss under the next clause, but is there not a case for setting different upper limits for the trafficking offences and the more remote facilitating offences?