Speeches by Murray.

“I absolutely recognise the importance of air travel to more rural parts of the country, but it is a fact that a journey between Edinburgh and London by electric train, such as those operated by Lumo, produces 95% less carbon emissions than the equivalent flight. Other countries take decisions to disincentivise domestic…”

“I recognise the work that the Minister is doing on this intractable issue and the frustration that we all share at the lack of progress, but the fact remains that not one hospital operates in northern Gaza, healthcare workers have been detained and targeted, and medical aid is blocked. So many of my constituents have w…”

“The focus of this debate should not be on the politics, on what is in the newspapers or on what is on social media; it should be on the children themselves. For four years before coming to the House, I worked on preventing trafficking, especially the trafficking of child victims around the country for sex. The stories …”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Mundell. I congratulate the hon. Member for West Suffolk (Nick Timothy) on securing this debate. As I understand it, when he was in the Home Office, the Conservative Government had a target of 100,000 net migration a year. Clearly, the Conservative Government spectacul…”

“Well, thanks for that. Turning to the issues the hon. Gentleman raised, on data collection, the ONS has significantly improved the immigration data we have in the last couple of years, particularly since the pandemic, by shifting away from the international passenger survey to things like Home Office and DWP administra…”

“I understand the point you are making and I think that the analysis that it is very international makes sense. However, the task being set for this command is enormous. Can it be done? I understand your diagnosis but how will this command be able to do that? You have listed a huge number of countries and a huge number …”

“It is reassuring to hear you draw the parallel with Windrush, because we know that having even 0.1% of people being caught up in these systems can have catastrophic effects for them. Do you know how many people still need to sign up for their e-visa and get their UKVI account? What are you doing to make sure that numbe…”

“I want to ask about the e-visa system that is due to come in, which is of course moving from physical documents for people with visas to a digital document, which obviously does make sense but is a fantastically complex administrative task for any Department. It was due to come in in a couple of weeks. You have decided…”

“I will move on to another topic—the new Border Security Command. Obviously, this is one of the Government’s big priorities, it is an issue that a lot of our constituents care about, and it monopolises a lot of attention. Can you tell us how the Border Security Command differs from anything that we have seen before, and…”

“It is good to hear the point about getting the backlog down. I agree with that. However, having spent the last five years before being elected working with local authorities that were having to respond to the decisions the Home Office took, setting up hotels without telling local authorities, trying to secure contracts…”

“I want to ask you about the enormous backlog of asylum cases that you have to clear and, in particular, how much it is costing the Department. In 2019-20 you were spending £17,000 per asylum seeker, In 2023-24 you are spending £41,000 per asylum seeker, and the number has been growing. The previous Government had attem…”

“Can I just come in briefly on returns with one follow-up question? I want to talk about voluntary returns because obviously returns have increased, but voluntary returns have increased. I absolutely accept that. However, they are still at a lower level than they were 12 years ago when net migration was a third of what …”

“I have one further question, or maybe two. What you have mentioned sounds like a lot of engagement is with other countries, working with European countries and further field. Can you tell us a bit about how that is going to work in practice because a lot of this stuff has happened before—obviously that was before Brexi…”

“Home Secretary, could I ask you about a group of women who have faced extreme exploitation and violence, women who have been trafficked in the UK? Can you tell us about your plans to reform and improve the national referral mechanism, in particular for the victims of sex trafficking and exploitation?”

“I think I heard you say that you will be working with local communities as well for those new set-ups, so that is positive to hear. My final question is about the other part of this process. People will either be granted refugee status or not, or they could go to appeals. You are going through a very large backlog, the…”

“Edinburgh is a booming and—oh, sorry.”

“The first duty of Government is national security, and the threat that the country faces is the most complex and evolving we have ever seen. Given the range of threats we face from hostile state actors, it is important that the Government take action to protect our critical national infrastructure from cyber-attacks an…”

“Some of us are still getting our heads around our new jobs, Mr Speaker. Edinburgh is a booming economy that has all the raw materials to thrive in the years ahead—especially because we have some of the growth industries that the Government have identified as being key to the future of the economy. However, businesses i…”

“4. What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the “Get Britain Working” White Paper on employers and businesses.”

“Does the Minister agree that this is actually an example of the Government keeping not only their manifesto promise to deliver a new deal for working people, but the manifesto promise that I certainly made many times during the election campaign, which was that the new Government would show the utmost respect for the S…”