Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, I shall be concise, as always. Does the Minister accept that there is a serious problem with the immigration service, which is that it is hopelessly under-resourced? The rate of removals has halved, and delays are growing all over the system. Does she accept that, if we want an effective immigration system, as the great majority of the public do, we have to pay for it?
Lord Green of Deddington: I realise that the Minister may be about to answer the point, but the reason there are no Christian refugees accepted is because they are not safe in the refugee camps. Is she about to deal with that?
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, I also congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Elton, on securing the debate. I declare an interest as a former trustee of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, which for 30 years has been doing sterling work advocating on behalf of persecuted Christians. This is a huge and important subject. We certainly need to raise awareness of the suffering of Christians and those of other faiths...
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the criteria for any new appointments to their Migration Advisory Committee include expertise on both the positive and negative impacts of immigration on the UK.
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, having spent seven years in the British Embassy in Riyadh, I feel there is something familiar about this discussion. Clearly, we face a very difficult situation there and it is highly unsatisfactory. Does the Minister agree that it is slightly better to avoid a direct head-to-head with the Saudis on these things? They believe, and probably will also say, “These are not British...
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, this discussion has unearthed some serious issues. I hope therefore that there will be an opportunity to vote on this matter so that people’s votes can be recorded.
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, does the Minister accept that there has to be some balance in this debate? If there is a specific time limit, especially a short one, it is all too easy for someone to spin out the proceedings—perhaps, in some circumstances, by making a false claim—until he or she has to be released and can then disappear. There has to be some balance and there has to be an ability to detain...
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow my noble friend Lord Hannay, who was an extremely distinguished UK representative in Brussels. As tail-end Charlie, I can be pretty brief. I was struck by a remark made by my noble friend Lord Hennessy. He asked: what have we done to ourselves to find ourselves in this present position? I suggest that part of the answer is that we have lost touch with...
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been towards finalising a new Memorandum of Understanding with the government of India on the return of Indian nationals who are found to be illegally present in the UK.
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, we risk getting somewhat lost in the detail here. It seems that the Government are now proposing to open up some 9 million jobs to worldwide competition, while at the same time effectively continuing with free movement to the European Union, as the noble Lord, Lord Paddick, said. As I said before, the risk is that this will run straight out of control. We really need to get hold of...
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, I have not spoken in previous Brexit debates. I do so now to introduce some new and different material into the debate, and because I believe that a key aspect of it is going very badly wrong. Indeed, it could well inflict yet further damage to public confidence in our entire political system. I refer to the scale of immigration—a matter of real importance to the general public...
Lord Green of Deddington: The noble Lord has been talking about extending the franchise to 16 to 18 year-olds. Does he believe that it should continue to include the 1 million to 2 million people who are not British citizens?
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, we all recognise that this is a very complex issue, as the Minister has said. I pay tribute to the efforts of my noble friend Lady Cox, who has been on this case for years and years. Does the Minister not recognise that literally tens of thousands of women are in a very disadvantaged position? The Government produce one excuse after another but when will they actually take some...
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many migrants who had entered the UK illegally were encountered by (1) port authorities, and (2) the police after passing through UK ports in each year since 2010.
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement made by the Home Secretary on 28 January on no deal arrangements for EU citizens, what requirements EU citizens who have previously lived in the UK will have to meet to have the right to apply for settlement; what estimate they have made of how many such EU citizens are likely to apply; and on what basis any estimate was made.
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 13 July 2018 (HL9105), what steps they have taken to encourage the Tribunal Procedure Committee to reach a decision regarding the implementation of the Government's proposals to cap the time between an initial Home Office decision to remove a detained foreign criminal or failed asylum seeker and the...
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, is the Minister aware that most of these refugees crossing the channel are from Iran, and that their chance of staying in the UK, whether permission is granted or not, is 97%? Would it not therefore be better to have a really effective way of differentiating between genuine refugees and economic migrants, and making sure that the latter are returned?
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their policy on the return of Indian nationals who are in the UK illegally; and how many Indian nationals were returned to their home country in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) which countries they consider to be “low risk” in the context of provision for low skilled workers set out in paragraphs 25–31 of their White Paper on the UK's future skill-based immigration system (Cm 9722), and (2) whether such low skilled workers will be permitted to return to the UK to work after their one year “cooling off” period and, if...
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 13 July 2018 (HL9105), what progress has been made by the Tribunals Procedure Committee in deciding on new rules for detained appellants.