Sir Edward Leigh, the Conservative Member of Parliament for Gainsborough, has called for stronger Government action to stop the flow of illegal migrants across the English Channel.
Speaking after a Ministry of Defence statement in the House of Commons on the role of the armed forces in fighting illegal migration, Sir Edward asked:
In the absence of Ministers having the political will to use pushback, what is the point in appointing a royal naval admiral to help Border Force to be a more efficient taxi service so that the migrants will know, “Now we’ve got the Royal Navy to pick us up—we’ll be taken safely to the UK, we'll be put in a hotel and we'll never, ever be sent home”? This is just an embarrassment.
Will the Minister now co-ordinate with his colleagues to do what we have been suggesting for months and get rid of the pull factors—namely, ensure that we reform any piece of legislation necessary, including the Human Rights Act, and that people who do the illegal crossing are arrested, put in a prison and deported?
James Heappey MP, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Defence, replied on the Government's behalf that "[Sir Edward's] exhortations and those of colleagues have been heard".
What's the point of appointing an admiral to oversee Border Force's cross-Channel taxi service?
— Sir Edward Leigh MP (@EdwardLeighMP) January 18, 2022
We should be deploying pushback to put the human traffickers and people smugglers out of business permanently. pic.twitter.com/H80tWB623a
