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Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 20 November 2025

Debate

Asylum Policy

Contribution

My Lords, I say to the Minister and the Home Secretary that this set of measures is to be welcomed, but I am afraid that it does not quite go far enough. I have one specific question for the Minister on the Statement. The Home Secretary said this in the other place: “We will never return anyone to be tortured in their home country, but the definition of ‘degrading treatment’”, in Article 3 of the ECHR, “has expanded into the realm of the ridiculous. Today we have criminals who we seek to deport, but we discover we cannot because the prisons in their home country have cells that are deemed too small, or even mental health provision that is not as good as our own”. She is absolutely right to say that. She goes on to say that, in order to address this problem, “we are seeking reform at the Council of Europe, and we do so alongside international partners who have raised similar concerns”.—[Official Report, Commons, 17/11/25; col. 512.] I am afraid the reality is that that sort of international method to seek amendment to the European convention will take years and years.

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