With all due respect to the hon. Lady, I met the assistant commissioner of the UNHCR and had this conversation directly with her. So whatever the hon. Lady may be quoting from her iPhone, I would prefer to take at face value what I have heard in discussion with the assistant commissioner. The point is that the UNHCR selects individuals who have registered with it and to whom it has given refugee status to go to other countries on existing safe and legal routes. It currently has discretion as to who it puts in the direction of the United Kingdom. That was a choice made when the UK established that scheme, because the then Conservative Government took the perfectly legitimate view that we would offer complete discretion to the United Nations to select the people it felt were the most vulnerable in the world and help them to come to the UK. We have already opened the conversation with the UN on how we will establish a new safe and legal route, and there are a range of options on how we might configure that.
Illegal Migration Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Robert Jenrick
(Conservative)
in the House of Commons on Wednesday, 26 April 2023.
It occurred during Speaker's statement
and
Debate on bills on Illegal Migration Bill.
About this proceeding contribution
Reference
731 c1506 Session
2022-23Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamberSubjects
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2024-04-25 16:49:59 +0100
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