GOVERNMENT OPPOSED TO COURT RULING ALLOWING PALESTINIANS TO SETTLE IN UK, HOUSING MINISTER SAYS

HOUSING Minister Alex Norris has said that the government disagrees with a court ruling that says a Palestinian family has the right to stay in the UK.

He said on GB News: “That’s something that we oppose. We’ve opposed it at every stage. We don’t think it’s likely to have wider ramifications, in the sense that it seems to be a narrow judgment on a single case.

“But that’s not something we support, and we would continue to oppose it if those cases came up in the future.”

Asked how it would be opposed, he said: “It’s making border security a priority, as it is underpinning our plan for change.

“What we’re doing is creating an environment where people don’t want to make dangerous crossings, do want to act in the regular way.

“It’s why we’ve increased deportations by a quarter since we’ve taken government, including 3,000 foreign criminals. It’s why [there are] inspection visits to make sure that people who are working are allowed to work.

“That’s increased by 50%, so it’s all aspects of everything we’ve done from the Home Office in order to tackle illegal migration.”

In a discussion during Breakfast with Eamonn Holmes and Ellie Costello, he added: “The reality is, the system has been badly led for a very long period of time, that’s how you get to a situation where you have over 900,000 net migration.

“That’s why the government of the day is stepping in and we made significant commitments at the election to use the everyday powers of the state, which is what we’ve been doing since we’ve taken government.

“But also, as we did on Monday, to bring in legislation that makes it easier to tackle the gangs that create a lot of the demand in this space.”