PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Topical Questions - 9 February 2026 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

This Government pledged to restore order and control to our borders, and our work is taking effect. Since we took office, removals of illegal migrants are up 31%, to nearly 60,000, forced returns are up 45%, and deportations of foreign criminals are up by a third. In December we imposed visa sanctions on three countries—Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo—and those sanctions have worked, with each of those countries now accepting its citizens back. I know that the public want us to do more, and we will: we will reform human rights law and our appeals processes to swiftly remove those with no right to be here. This country will always offer sanctuary to genuine refugees, but with those who do not play by the rules, we must be firm. The previous Conservative Government lost control, and it is this Labour Government who are restoring order to our border.

As the Secretary of State knows, our independent rape gang inquiry hearings are ongoing just a short walk from this Chamber. Last week I sat opposite one woman who was raped by between 600 and 700 men. She estimated that 98% were Pakistani Muslims. The evidence we are collecting is brutal. We have been told again and again of attempts to traffic raped and abused women overseas to Pakistan and elsewhere; thankfully, those attempts failed, but how many did not? Will the Secretary of State agree to urgently review cases of missing girls in target areas and launch a full state investigation into reports of such trafficking?

The testimony of the victims that the hon. Gentleman has heard from is absolutely horrifying, and the grooming gangs scandal was one of the darkest moments in this country’s history. Victims and survivors of these hideous crimes deserve justice, and we will make sure that they get it. Our inquiry is a full, statutory independent inquiry, with all the powers under the Inquiries Act 2005 to deliver justice. I urge the hon. Gentleman and anybody else who has heard any allegations or evidence of criminality to share it with the police immediately.

My hon. Friend is a doughty champion for his community. He has raised the issue of these hotels with me on multiple occasions and I know that he will continue to do so until they are closed. He is exactly right; for the reasons he mentions, hotels are a very bad place to accommodate those seeking asylum. He will have heard the commitment from myself and the Home Secretary: we will get them closed, and we will do so within this parliamentary term.

I call the shadow Home Secretary.

Deng Majek from Sudan is an illegal small boat migrant who was sentenced last week to 29 years in prison for the brutal murder of Rhiannon Whyte. He stabbed Rhiannon 23 times as she desperately tried to defend herself. Given timing of Majek’s arrival, in the summer of 2024, he would have been eligible for deportation to Rwanda, but Labour cancelled the Rwanda plan and instead accommodated this illegal immigrant in a hotel at taxpayers’ expense. Does the Home Secretary now accept that it was a huge mistake to cancel, just before it started, the Rwanda plan, which would have seen Majek deported, thereby preventing Rhiannon’s murder?

Let me say first and foremost that the murder of Rhiannon Whyte was an abhorrent crime and our thoughts are with her loved ones. I would caution all Members against using individual cases to make a bigger political point, as the shadow Home Secretary has just sought to do. He knows full well that his Government’s Rwanda plan was nothing more than a gimmick—£700 million was spent on four volunteers going to Rwanda. There is no silver bullet in dealing with the mess of the migration system left to us by the previous Conservative Administration, but we are taking action across every front to get illegal migration under control and to secure our border.

The Rwanda scheme never started because this Government cancelled it. The Home Secretary talks about gimmicks. Her Government’s gimmicks have failed, and that is why cross-channel migration is up 42% since the general election.

I am afraid that this is not an isolated case. Hundreds of crimes are being committed by illegal immigrants, including a 30-year-old woman raped on a Brighton beach, a 15-year-old girl raped in Leamington Spa by two Afghan small boat migrants, and a girl aged just 12 strangled and raped by two illegal immigrants in Nuneaton. Does the Home Secretary agree that this cannot go on, that only radical action will fix it and that, just as the Father of the House said earlier, we need to leave the European convention on human rights and deport all illegal immigrants within a week of arrival, because then the crossings will stop?

The shadow Home Secretary has only picked up this new policy of leaving the ECHR in opposition; it is not one that the Conservatives took up when they were in government. [Interruption.] I am afraid he is now just carping from the sidelines, to which he has been condemned by the British people for failing to control our borders. It is this Government who are sorting out the abject mess in our migration system left by the Conservatives—[Interruption.]

Order. Mr Philp, please can you calm down? It does not look good on TV for anybody to be shouting somebody else down.

We are already taking action. We will go much further, and we will not stop until we have restored order to our border.

We are putting more money into policing. We are introducing respect orders. We are bringing back the rule that any theft of items whose value is under £200 must be investigated by the police. We are putting thousands more officers into our town centres. We are working with retailers to use new technology to tackle crime. We are introducing live facial recognition to get these nasty criminals locked up where they belong. I am very much looking forward to working with my hon. Friend, and perhaps even visiting her constituency at some point.

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

In recent weeks, those warning that a rapid dip in net migration could harm public services and the economy span left and right, including commentators such as Fraser Nelson, not known for his softness on this sort of thing. It is no secret that the Government are struggling to deliver growth after their two damaging Budgets and stubborn refusal to join a customs union with the EU. Is the Home Secretary totally certain that her plans on immigration will not further harm the economy and public services like our precious NHS?

Yes, I am, because having an ordered migration system both for legal migration and to sort out the problems of illegal migration is absolutely critical to maintaining public confidence across the country and making sure that we can hold our country together. I back all of these reforms, and I know they will have nothing but a positive impact.

In Aldershot and Farnborough, we have a brilliant police team, but recruitment of officers is difficult because of the pay difference along the Hampshire-Surrey border. Officers can earn more by working just a few miles away, leaving our local police team understaffed and overstretched. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to address those recruitment challenges, to ensure that we have bobbies on the beat in every community?

My hon. Friend makes a good point. We need to make sure that we are paying our police well, which we have done through a pay uplift, and looking after them. The number of police officers leaving the service—not to retire, nor due to ill health, but because they were fed up with it—tripled under the last Government. We will put a stop to that.

It is for the Scottish Government to undertake an inquiry because, unlike in Wales, justice is devolved in Scotland, as are education and health—all of which will be vital facets of the inquiry that will run across England and Wales. I do not disagree that there needs to be no stone left unturned in Scotland. We will make sure that anything that is found through the work of the inquiry’s committee is shared with Scotland.

Will the Security Minister give us an update on the work of the defending democracy taskforce to tackle the level of disinformation on social media and in our democracy?

The defending democracy taskforce is the fulcrum point that co-ordinates activity across Government. We work very closely with other Departments specifically on the issue of countering misinformation and disinformation, not least as we move towards the important elections taking place in May. This is an important body, which has recently had its mandate renewed by the Prime Minister. We work very closely with law enforcement to make sure that our democracy is properly protected.

Let me condemn in the strongest possible terms all the antisemitic incidents that the hon. Gentleman has highlighted in his question. This Government will not stand for any antisemitism in our country, and we will take every step we can across Government to wipe out this evil from our society. He will know that I am reviewing police protest powers, and I have already made some announcements on changes that we will make. Lord Ken Macdonald is conducting a review, and I will not hesitate to take further legal steps in order to protect our Jewish community.

What action is my right hon. Friend taking to disrupt the finances of the organised crime groups facilitating illegal migration to the United Kingdom, and what steps is her Department taking with international partners to prosecute those who are funding those operations, both domestically and internationally?

I can report to the House that we have made 4,000 such disruptions of organised immigration crime. We are working with partners on all flows of illicit trafficking of peoples across the world, at every stage. We are of course working closely with our French neighbours, as well as all the way round the world, to disrupt those flows, and to send a clear signal to those who traffic in persons that their time is up.

I was at the Westminster Hall petition debate on indefinite leave to remain. Some 60 Labour MPs turned up and unanimously rubbished and disparaged the Home Secretary’s proposals. I got the impression that they were highly unlikely to support them, so can she guarantee that any changes to ILR will be brought to this House for debate and a vote?

These are the right reforms. We have set out our proposals for an earned settlement scheme, and they are being consulted on. That consultation closes in a matter of days, and the Government will consider all responses. If there are any changes that we wish to make, we will make them in the usual way.

Town centre crime in Hartlepool has fallen by 15% in the last year, thanks to the brilliant work of our police force under the leadership of Helen Wilson, but far more needs to happen. My constituents deserve to feel safe in their town centre, so can the Secretary of State tell me what more we can do to make sure that our town centres remain safe?

I am delighted that town centre crime has fallen by 15% in my hon. Friend’s constituency. It has fallen in many towns across the land since this Government came to power—not just because we are introducing new technology, including live facial recognition, where we need to; not just because we are introducing more neighbourhood policing; and not just because we are changing the law to ensure that all crimes are investigated; but because we are all working together to get this done.

My constituents are concerned about the imminent closure of volunteer-manned Pinner police station, as part of a programme of closure by the Mayor of London that leaves the whole London borough of Harrow with no in-person access to the police. Thus far, the volunteers who man the front desk and I have had no response at all from the Mayor of London to our attempts to raise this issue. Will the Minister intervene to ensure that we at least get a response, and that the Mayor of London listens to my constituents’ concerns?

I am sure that the Mayor of London listens to the hon. Gentleman’s constituents’ concerns. We have increased funding to the Metropolitan police, and we are doing everything we can to reverse the increases in retail crime that we saw under the previous Government, and which we are beginning to tackle now.

On Friday, I visited St James primary school in Haydock in my constituency, where, after learning about the dangers of knife crime, year 6 children are campaigning to install bleed control kits in their community, in case the worst ever happens. Can the Minister please assure them and all my constituents that this Government are doing all they can to tackle knife crime, and will she join me in paying tribute to the children and staff of St James for their efforts?

Absolutely. I welcome the conversation that my hon. Friend is having with his constituents and the children, who I know are deeply worried about knife crime. This Government have a target to halve knife crime in a decade. Since the start of this Parliament, knife crime has fallen by 8%, and knife homicides are down by 27%, but we will not stop until we reach that target.

The Home Office has said that a new licence to practice will be required by all police officers. Can the Minister explain how that will differ from what is required under police conduct regulations, the police code of ethics and current police training programmes?

The licence to practice is being introduced to ensure that all officers, at whatever stage in their career, are getting the right support and the training that they need to do the jobs that we demand of them. We have said explicitly that we will design this with policing, so that we can get this right, but it is about supporting the police to do the jobs that we all need them to do.

I hope the hon. Gentleman will understand if I do not get into the specifics—we do not comment on individual cases—but I can tell him that the Home Secretary will use all the tools at her disposal to ensure that we keep the public safe.

I would like to pass on my heartfelt sympathies to the family of Khaleed Oladipo, who was tragically killed in a knife crime incident last week in the city of Leicester. I am sure that no Member of this House wants to see another life cut short and another mother’s heart broken, so will the Minister back my calls for the Government to appoint a dedicated Minister to tackle knife crime?

I am that dedicated Minister. It is my job to tackle knife crime; it is what I have campaigned on for many years. I am glad to say that we are having some success, but every knife attack and every knife murder is an absolute tragedy, and we will continue to do all we can.

The police officers and police community support officers in North Shropshire work hard, but PCSOs’ hours have been cut because of budget constraints, and there are no front desk services at all in my constituency, despite it having five market towns. Can the Minister outline how we will ensure better and more visible community policing in North Shropshire?

The officer maintenance grant, which kept the uplift in officer numbers, became a barrier to more visible policing, and actually the number of PCSOs halved under the previous Government. We are giving the police more flexibility, and we are putting 13,000 more officers on our streets in our communities, where they can tackle the scourge of everyday crime, and as a result, I think that the hon. Lady will get the right mix for her constituents.