Yvette Cooper

Yvette Cooper

Labour — Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley

Speaking in the House of Commons on 7 July 2025

Debate

Small Boat Crossings

Contribution

My hon. Friend is right to refer both to returns—we have increased returns of failed asylum seekers by more than 20% since the election—and to the action against the criminal gangs. We know that there are Iraqi Kurdish gangs in particular operating in northern France, so we have a new agreement in place with the French Government, the Iraqi Government and the Kurdistan Regional Government, to pursue those gangs.

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