Patrick Grady: The Queen’s Speech frequently seems to have coincided with significant electoral or political developments in Scotland over the past few years. Once again we meet in the aftermath of council elections, and I congratulate all those elected in Glasgow North last Thursday, particularly my returning SNP colleagues Ken Andrew, Kenny McLean, Jaki McLaren, Allan Gow and Franny Scally. I also...
Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many young people under 18 who hold limited-leave to remain are resident in each of the nations of the UK; and what estimate she has made of number of under 18s holding limited-leave to remain will be resident in each of the nations of the UK in the next 12 months.
Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether asylum seekers from Rwanda arriving in the UK on small boats will be sent to Rwanda to claim asylum under the terms of the UK and Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership.
Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with representatives of the UNHCR on the establishment of credible mechanisms to actively monitor the protection situation inside Syria and the conditions for safe, voluntary and dignified return to Syria for refugees who wish to do so.
Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will make it her policy to increase the UK’s contribution to the UN country-based pooled fund at the 6th Brussels Conference on supporting the future of Syria and the Region on 9 to 10 May 2022.
Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to monitor and reduce the number of forced deportations of Syrian refugees from (a) Lebanon, (b) Turkey and (c) other neighbouring countries.
Patrick Grady: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in the Scottish Government on his Department’s review into retained EU law in the UK.
Patrick Grady: Is that not therefore evidence that the current system works? The kind of behaviour the hon. Gentleman’s party colleague, the hon. Member for Eastleigh (Paul Holmes), has just described is already against the law and will be identified by the polling clerks if someone turns up and tries to vote twice.
Patrick Grady: It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Cynon Valley (Beth Winter), who is essentially right in everything she says. The scrutiny of this Bill so far has been an absolute travesty of the democracy it is supposed to regulate—the lack of engagement on the Government Benches is testimony to that. The Government changed the scope of the Bill after Second Reading, and crashed it through...
Patrick Grady: The point is that voter fraud, to the extent that it exists—personation, as the Labour Front-Bench spokesperson said—is in single figures. There is no evidence whatsoever that personation is actively affecting the result of any election taking place anywhere across the country.
Patrick Grady: Of course it is not acceptable, which is why it should be punished to the full extent of the law, which it is. We have heard several times in this debate that if someone votes twice, they have broken the law and they go to jail. That does happen, as we have heard—
Patrick Grady: I think the ping-pong is supposed to be between this place and the upper House, rather than across the Floor of the Chamber, but I will give way.
Patrick Grady: I think we are getting slightly philosophical here. The reality is that when voter fraud/personation is detected, it is punished to the full extent of the law. We heard in evidence that it is an incredibly inefficient way to swing the outcome of an election. As my hon. Friend the Member for Argyll and Bute (Brendan O'Hara) said, people who want to swing the outcome of an election can do so...
Patrick Grady: I am delighted by the hon. Gentleman’s conversion to the cause of European democracy and alignment. The simple answer is that Scotland has one of the widest, most open and transparent franchises that has ever existed in western democracies. It includes 16 and 17-year-olds, asylum seekers—people who have made their home here—and people who are serving certain types of prison sentence,...
Patrick Grady: Like all Members who have spoken, I have had several constituents experience delays. One pinch point seems to be the private contractor responsible for delivering passports. Even once a passport has been processed, they seem to go on little holidays of their own all around the UK until they eventually arrive—or not—on the constituent’s doorstep. Can the Minister speak to that private...
Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether (a) she, (b) Ministers in her Department and (c) officials in her Department had discussions with representatives of the UN High Commission for Refugees on the UK and Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership before its publication.
Patrick Grady: You are right, Madam Deputy Speaker, that the House is considering narrower and narrower aspects of the Bill, but despite the fact that this is the fifth time it has come to the House, still no Minister has been able to explain how the United Kingdom, which is surrounded by water, can ever be the first safe country of arrival for an undocumented asylum seeker. The proposals in the Bill, and...
Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions has he had with his EU counterparts on progressing the ratification of the UK’s association with the EU’s Horizon Europe programme.
Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with her Nigerian counterpart on the imprisonment of Mubarak Bala, president of the Nigerian Humanist Association.
Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help secure a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Yemen.