David Davies (Monmouth, Conservative)

This Bill Committee has been an interesting experience for me. It is one of the first that I have served on, so I tread warily. I have noticed a bit of consensus on some of the general principles, one of which is allowing immigration officers to detain people under certain circumstances. I question whether three hours is long enough for an immigration officer to detain someone. In a busy port such as Heathrow or Gatwick, a police officer will be on the spot within minutes or seconds if they are not already there, so it will not be an issue in the places that we tend to think of; but in other ports there is not always a 24-hour police presence.

I am concerned that if the situation that we discussed were to arise, in which it became apparent to an immigration officer that somebody before them was wanted by the police, whether under warrant or in other circumstances, it might take longer than three hours for a police officer to arrive. The police tend to be fairly reactive; they are not always present in the numbers that we would like. I speak from experience as a currently sworn-in special constable. I imagine that in most cases three hours would be long enough, but I can envisage circumstances, in a remote area with police already out on various calls, in which it would not be. Therefore, I tabled an amendment that “three hours” be replaced by “24 hours”, on the basis that that would make absolutely certain that under no circumstances would somebody who was wanted for a serious offence escape.

However, I am open to suggestions on the amendment. My hon. Friend the Member for Ashford has spoken eloquently and sagaciously on many matters relating to the Bill, and he has suggested that eight hours, rather than 24, might be enough. I am open to persuasion on that point. I merely question whether three hours is enough and I hope that, given the consensus that we are starting to see on some measures in the Bill, the Government would also agree that three hours might be insufficient time in certain circumstances.

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