Speeches by Tapp.

“Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?”

“That is good to hear. Have you met with Ministers or officials from MOJ since Helen Pitcher resigned as chair?”

“Thank you. The final question is this. The commission also proposes replacing direction power because being compelled to act on judicial orders risks treating the CCRC as a subordinate body. What is your position on the proposal to change the Court of Appeal’s power to direct investigations into a request?”

“Thank you.”

“Okay. My next question is more about independence. We have had past concerns, particularly in 2016 to 2018, that included fears that commissioners who resisted MOJ-driven structural changes were not reappointed. The Law Commission report stressed that perceived independence matters as much as actual independence. In yo…”

“I have a few more questions if you don’t mind, Chair. The commission strongly recommends introducing external inspection as there is no external scrutiny mechanism at the moment. What are the CCRC’s feelings on that?”

“Is that a perception thing maybe around independence?”

“We are going to look at independence now—a new area. First, more generally, how would you characterise the current working relationship with the Ministry of Justice now? Has it changed since you have joined?”

“That is good to hear.”

“Thank you.”

“Just to get this right: who makes the decision on the test that is applied? Is that Parliament?”

“Thank you, Chair. I just want to pick up a little more on referrals, which I was going to talk about later, but, as we are touching on that now, the Law Commission consultation on criminal appeals in February said that the current referral test is hindering the correction of miscarriages of justice and that a non-predi…”

“declared on the register—and I worked for the National Crime Agency in the past.”

“Hello.”

“Q5. While the last Government resorted to damaging keyboard diplomacy, this Government are leading, bringing 14 nations together this week to tackle illegal immigration. Like the Prime Minister, I have seen at first hand how counter-terror powers can disrupt threats before lives are lost. That same approach is essentia…”

“It is widely accepted across the whole country, including in my constituency, that the Conservatives left us with open borders, with 150,000 people crossing on their watch and the opening of 400 asylum hotels, costing our taxpayers £9 million per day. This Government have already established Border Security Command and…”

“I appreciate the collegiate working environment that we are now in. In which case, will the hon. Lady expand on the caps set by the previous Government and the results that came after?”

“What are the other methods, and how accurate are they?”

“How safe would be the procedures that the hon. Gentleman is not telling us the names of to detect whether somebody is a child or an adult? How safe would they be, particularly if the person turned out to be a child?”

“What are the other methods, and how accurate are they?”