I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests in respect of the support I get from the Refugee, Asylum and Migration Policy project. It includes a cross-party group of MPs who, to follow on from the comments made by the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Apsana Begum), absolutely seek to take the toxicity out of this debate, to find consensus, to be careful in the language we use, and to find agreement and, indeed, pragmatic solutions. When it comes to crossing the channel in small boats, we certainly need pragmatic solutions.
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I absolutely commend my hon. Friend the Minister for his comments about seeking to smash the evil trade in people. That is what we must do, because the traffickers regard human life as absolutely worthless. They seek to provide crossings to the highest bidder, and no consideration
whatever is given to people’s safety. I thank my hon. Friend for his engagement on this subject, and for listening to my real concerns about some of the clauses.
It is interesting that when we talk about immigration, we often find ourselves with strange bedfellows—I will be completely candid about that. It is not often that my right hon. Friend the Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis) and I find ourselves in absolute agreement; however, as might be expected of the Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, I share a great many of his reservations about not only the moral principle but the practical impact of the policy of offshoring.
I have sought assurances from my hon. Friend the Minister about whether the offshoring policy will apply to children. I very much hope that an assurance that it will not will be included in the Bill, and that we will not seek to remove vulnerable young people to any other country, whether it is a member of the refugee convention and signatory to the European convention on human rights or not. I also seek assurances from my hon. Friend that we will not seek to offshore women, who will perhaps be pregnant women. If pregnant women are making these dangerous crossings, what are we doing to make sure they are safeguarded and not shipped off to another country? That is crucial.