14 New Stour & Avon, December 3, 2021
MPs’ round-up
It’s time to stop current surge of immigrants Bogus asylum seeking and illegal immigration are current political hot topics. The tragic loss of life in the Channel has focused attention on the urgent need to prevent the surge of migrants seeking a better life in the United Kingdom. We have a system of immigration control involving the granting of visas which is designed to ensure that there is an effective limit to the number of those seeking to live in our country. The Home Secretary, Priti Patel, in her statement to the House of Commons, said that it is illegal to cross the Channel in small boats. I intervened, however, to say that this was inaccurate because, since July this year, the Crown Prosecution Service has refused to prosecute passengers of boats and other vehicles unless they are repeat offenders or have previously
been deported. I asked the Home Secretary if she would support my Illegal Immigration (Offences) Bill. This is designed to make provision for effective criminal actions against people who have entered the UK illegally or who remain in the UK without legal authority. The Bill would make entering the UK without authority a criminal act that would merit deportation, unless the Home Secretary determined that would not be in the public interest and submitted a certificate to the Court. Although there was no time for my Bill to be debated, there will be a further opportunity when the Nationality and Borders Bill returns to the House of Commons for its Report Stage in the week beginning December 6. I have tabled my suggestions as an amendment to make the
Christchurch & East Dorset: Chris Chope legislation effective in deterring illegal immigration which is currently encouraged through the lack of any meaningful sanction. The latest Home Office immigration removal statistics show that the number of people subjected to enforced removal has continued to decline so that they are only 25% of what they were in
2014 despite the massive increase in illegal activity. With more than 27,000 people having reached the United Kingdom in 2021 in small boats and with fewer than 10 having been returned, it is not surprising that my constituents are utterly exasperated by the inability of the Government to respond. The French authorities have a point when they highlight the absence of identity cards in the UK, the ready availability of benefits and the easy access to informal participation in the black economy. This is in contrast to France where identity cards are required and the life of an illegal immigrant is less comfortable as a result. Criminal sanctions would redress the balance. For my next Parliamentary report, I hope to have better news about the Government accepting my proposals.
Protestors flag up sewage discharge issue Extinction Rebellion staged a colourful protest in Christchurch to highlight the regular discharge of untreated sewage into rivers flowing into Christchurch Harbour writes a spokesman. Christchurch Harbour is a popular spot for water sports and attracts tourism vital for the local economy. But Extinction Rebellion fear the health of locals, the harbour’s internationallyrecognised wildlife and Christchurch’s economy are endangered by untreated sewage. Raw sewage was discharged into rivers and off the coast across Dorset on multiple occasions in 2020, for example 43 times for a total of 593 hours into the River Avon at Christchurch in 2020, and 68 times for a period of 493 hours into the River Stour at Wimborne.
Recently, raw sewage contaminated 12 Dorset beaches including Christchurch Avon Beach and Friars Cliff Christchurch, and Dorset sea swimmers said discharges of raw sewage made them ill. In 2020 Wessex Water discharged raw sewage into Dorset waterways 28,994 times for a period in excess of 200,000 hours. The nine English water companies pay billions in dividends to shareholders – in the past 10 years Wessex Water has paid out
£1.1billion to shareholders. The Government recently missed an opportunity to put an end to this sewage scandal and instead introduced a watered-down amendment to the Environment Bill requiring English water companies to ‘progressively reduce’ the discharge of sewage. It is feared this amendment will let the polluters off the hook as it’s vague, lacks ambition and is unlikely to be enforceable. Last Saturday in Christchurch, Extinction
Rebellion Wimborne and Extinction Rebellion BCP asked local residents to contact their MP to urge him to back the Climate & Ecological Emergency Bill. The CEE Bill is a private member’s Bill making its way through Parliament with the support of 118 MPs, 29 members of the House of Lords and 146 councils but neither Dorset MPs, BCP Council nor Dorset Council. Extinction Rebellion asked local residents to contact their councillors on BCP Council and Christchurch Town Council to urge their councils to back the CEE Bill. The CEE Bill would set targets to restore nature and deal with climate crisis. Sewage pollution is only set to get worse with climate change as the weather becomes more unpredictable.
