Westminster Hall
13 July 2026
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Chamber House of Commons
00:11 - 00:14
Speaker 1
Order. John Lamont to move the motion.
00:14 - 02:12
Speaker 2
Thank you. It's a pleasure to serve with you in the chair, Mr Twigg, and I open... it's also a pleasure to open this debate on behalf of the Petitions Committee. I beg to move that this House has considered e-petition 737105 relating to offshore detention and deportation of illegal migrants. I will speak today in my role on that committee, but in doing so, I'm obliged to give not only my own views on the issue, but the views of the petitioner and campaigners who sought this debate. I will set out what the petition seeks, its merits, and the points worth considering further.
Of course, I have my own views on this issue, which I will also share throughout this debate. I congratulate the petitioner for setting up this petition, which unusually is one of our colleagues, the honourable member for Great Yarmouth. Mr Twigg, the petition calls on the government to establish offshore detention facilities for people who enter the UK illegally to process them and arrange their deportation. It closed in March with over 720,000 signatures drawn from every part of the United Kingdom, including a great many of my own constituents in Galashiels, Hawick, Kelso, Jedburgh, and across the Scottish Borders. The number of signatures this petition attracted... sorry, the number of signatures this petition attracted reflects the strength of feeling on this issue of immigration.
Let me set out the scale of the problem that has prompted this petition. Each year, tens of thousands of people are entering the United Kingdom illegally, mainly travelling by small boat across the English Channel. There is a process for those fleeing war and persecution to seek asylum in this country. The people coming here illegally are not following that process. They are not doing the right thing.
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