Labour is flat-out refusing to release key figures on migrants and migrant crime – brushing off written parliamentary questions with excuses that data is “too expensive” to gather or “not held centrally.” Lord Jackson of Peterborough asked how many migrants with suspected links to organised crime are in the UK, have been removed or have been released on bail. Home Office minister Lord Flint refused to answer:
“The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.”
This is not the first time. Andrew Snowden MP asked how many foreign nationals were denied entry for supporting terror groups since 2020. That was refused. A written question on the misuse of taxpayer-funded Aspen cards for asylum seekers was refused as that was “commercially sensitive.” Even the number of small boat engines seized is supposedly too costly to publish….
Labour’s refusal to give Parliament the facts shuts down any scrutiny or debate. Or any chance of fixing the problem…
Shadow national security minister Alicia Kearns told Times Radio she would have put a precondition on a China trip if she were PM:
“I would have put a precondition that I was not going to go if I was prime minister, unless Jimmy Lai was coming home with me. I would also put a precondition in the six months leading up to the visit that I wanted a reduction in hostile acts against our country. But that’s not what we saw. And actually, in contrast, what we saw was clearly the Chinese Communist Party did put a precondition, which was that the new embassy in London had to be signed off. So why is it okay for China to set preconditions and to make very clear red lines about what they require for a visit, but we go without having put any ourselves?”