I want to write to Lord Green of Deddington
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reduce the overall number of migrants coming to the UK following the end of free movement.
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, I declare a non-financial interest as president of Migration Watch UK. I also remind the House that I speak for 30 million UK adults who wish to see immigration reduced, 18 million of them “by a lot”. In yesterday’s debate the noble Lord, Lord King of Bridgwater, referred to what he described as a bizarre taboo against discussing world population. I would add that there seems...
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, I declare a non-financial interest as president of Migration Watch, and remind the House that Migration Watch speaks for 30 million adults in the UK who wish to see immigration reduced. Eighteen million of them wish to see it reduced “by a lot”. For comparison, only about 5.5 million wish to see an increase, so they are outnumbered by rather more than five to one. The views of...
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, the debate has been very interesting and wide-ranging. I was especially interested in the contribution of my noble friend Lord Kerr. However, there has not been much mention so far of what I will call “real people”—people outside this Chamber. I should like to focus briefly on one of the major factors that underlay the outcome of the referendum. I refer, of course, to...
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether EU restrictions on dealings with the Baniyas refinery apply (1) specifically, and (2) by implication, to a third non-EU party supplying it with oil.
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the export of oil to Syria is prohibited by the EU.
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is Gibraltar's current relationship with the EU.
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any EU restrictive measures against Syria are limited in their application to EU territory.
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the EU Commission about the legal implications of the detention of the Iranian oil tanker Grace 1; and what was the outcome of any such discussions.
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty's Government what specific action they took in each of the last five financial years to reduce net migration to the UK.
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, what lies behind this issue is whether a future Prime Minister will have a credible threat of no deal. I do not want no deal, but I believe that, unless he has that threat, he will do no better than his predecessor.
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.