Government targets lawyers who illegally help asylum seekers

well let's return to our top story this morning the arrival of the first migrants on the government's accommodation barge in Dorset the government's also announced a new task force to identify unscrupulous lawyers after reports that false Asylum claims are being submitted for a fee they're Justice secretary Alex chalk joins me in the studio now thanks very much good morning um we a letter was seen by Sky News yesterday which shows that Asylum Seekers who didn't get on the barge yesterday must board today or face having their government support canceled now a lot of these people may well have legitimate reasons to claim Asylum are you breaking your legal responsibility to these refugees by threatening them with this well those who object to going on the barge can seek legal advice and try to resist it in the normal way and we we will have those arguments played out in an independent Court that's absolutely right but look the point about the people saying to them not that it will go to a court that if they don't get on it they're out well the point the point about that is the British people will rightly expect of course people coming to our country we would have basically safe and decent accommodation what they don't expect is that we're spending six million pounds a day on four-star hotel accommodation so this is about fairness yes of course fairness to migrants but also fairness to the British people and we are very clear that it is safe and it is reasonable that people should be uh provided with acceptable accommodation but not accommodation necessary which goes beyond that which costs huge amounts of money because six million pounds a day billions of pounds a year that's money which then can't be spent on other priorities for the British people whether it's the NHS or whether it's schools and so on so we we are absolutely clear that people people who arrive in in our country illegally for example we will do what is absolutely right and the appropriate standards will be applied but we won't go beyond that and spend money which frankly has to be borrowed in any event and is not the priorities of the British people but in terms of the finances I mean the baby Stockholm is a tiny Drop in the Ocean isn't it all about the Six Million but only one percent of those who are currently paying for hotels could be housed in the Bibi Stockholm so it's yes it's it's a solution but it's a very tired it's a minor one that's right and it is part of the solution that's why you know your listeners will be aware that we're considering all sorts of disused army bases we want to consider what accommodation is out there which will take the strain off the taxpayer that is currently spending a huge amount of money per day so we want to bring that number in expensive hotel accommodation down the Bibi Stockholm is part of it but it's not the complete solution but it also sends a message as well that the British people will be fair of course will be fair but we're also going to be fair the British people as as well and I think that's um that's that's the right balance to strike but the government needs 100 more barges doesn't it if it wants to get rid of this six million pound hotel bill right so the home office will consider what other budget accommodation but I do want to stress the point it's not purely about barges and you're as I say your listeners will have heard about other disused army bases and other facilities that are available as well so a huge amount of work is taking place to see what other alternative cheaper more most efficient and frankly more proportional accommodation is available we cannot have in perpetuity people staying in in four-star accommodation because that is money as I say which isn't going into the wider Community it's not disproportionate and it's not fair you're today announcing a Crackdown on lawyers who encourage migrants to make false claims how will this work in practice right so this is a professional enabler's task force to go after the minority of lawyers and I want to stress as a minority of law is the overwhelming majority do an extremely important and professional job now our legal sector is the second biggest in the world and it's something of which we can be rightly proud but whether there is that small minority who abused their position who betray their profession frankly who make up stories who lie or otherwise abuse the process in order to support clients well we are ramping up our ability to do so first of all by helping to train home office caseworkers who often see this stuff to identify it more clearly also to ensure that they are referring it within the to the correct body within the ecosystem of enforcement that exists but also this to ensure that they support those prosecutions with relevant and admissible evidence to ensure that people can be brought to Justice it's not new though is it Boris Johnson's nationality and borders act included this and the home office says this task force been up and running for the past few months so why are you making this announcement today making it seem like it's a new thing when it's actually something that's already been no not quite denoted no it is a new thing so the the actual um enablers task force is a whole step changing approach within the home office so previously you had a situation where caseworkers might see what they've thought of was suspicious right so prima facie evidence of illegality what we're doing is helping to train them to identify that more clearly second to ensure that you can refer it to the right agency because there are so many agencies that are acting in this area you've got the NCAA of course you've got the police but also you've got the office of Immigration Services commissioner you've got this this is regulator Authority so this is disciplinary tribunal so it's assisting those caseworkers who should you refer this to but then also how do you go about preparing and packaging evidence which could then be admissible and used to bring prosecutions or indeed other disciplinary matters so it's so look it is it is new it is a step change and it's about galvanizing and really improving our efforts to crack down on illegality but it's used in existing structures it's not creating something new well there are it's true there are existing structures as I mentioned some of these other agencies but they're critically important is to ensure that you coordinate those so they are more than the sum of their parts because you can have a situation which might appear to be fragmented in the sense that you would have the NCA Prosecuting investigating matters in the CPS if you improve how these things are coordinated that makes a big difference second if you ensure that caseworkers are providing the critical evidence in other words seizing material ensuring that it is packaged in the right way that it's provided to the correct agency you can see a step change in the effectiveness of those organizations in going after wrongdo and we're absolutely clear we want to crack down not by the way because we you know we don't think lawyers do a good job the overwhelming majority do an exceptionally important role and as I say it's a sector of which we are hugely proud as a nation but the tiny minority let the side down and it's right we should go after them if it's a tiny minority why is the government investing time and energy on it I mean shouldn't shouldn't the real problem with migration seems to be the enormous backlog it should minority do enormously important and serious harm because every time they come up with a fraudulent story which leads to that person staying in the country that could be someone who has absolutely no right to be here that could be somebody about whom the nation has a serious security concern for example so it is extremely serious and it's also very corrosive for trust in the uh in lawyers as a whole so yes it might be a small minority but the impact it has is disproportionately serious and if we want to preserve our reputation I was in Japan recently the British legal system has an extraordinarily High reputation if we want to preserve that our International counterparts and us as a nation would expect us to come down hard on those Bad actors as Justice secretary it's great to have you here can I ask you about the Andrew markinson yes gmp's already apologized for their failings in the case now it's been revealed by law Justice Hollywood in in their their long ruling that they also actively failed to disclose evidence so they've apologized again today the iopc is investigating for this man it it's not enough is it what sanctions should be taken against it so so I'm I'm embarrassed of my background prosecuted uh in the courts and to hear about a miscarriage of Justice like this just makes my blood run cold it's absolutely appalling the British people are entitled to expect that yes people are prosecuted but they are prosecuted fairly and so I know I was really shocked to read about what sounds like a disclosure failure which in plain English means where material that is held by the prosecution which ought to have been provided to the defense because actually it shows that so what should be done about it well look I mean there's a procedure which is taking place the iopc is considering that and is that if there has been a disclosure failure then you say an apology might not be enough it may well not be enough but that will be a matter for Mr markinson to decide whether he wants to proceed what I can say is that where there is a miscarriage of justice as there has been in this case is there is a scheme which is available to provide a measure of compensation to those individuals and that's well understood but it's about stopping and happening again yes and he said the criminal cases review commit Mission despite being asked didn't investigate that is their job isn't it why did they not do it and is it fit for purpose if it doesn't investigate cases like this well it's it's really important to consider so what happens when you're convicted then you can make an application for a leave to appeal from the court you could then the court of appeal can consider your conviction decide whether it's safe so that takes place anyway and then potentially you can put your case before the criminal case is reviewed but here they were asked to and they didn't investigate and attack an independent charity to uncover this evidence and look absolutely the thing to be mindful of is that if and this is why the iopc needs to do its work if the situation was that the police in the first place had not revealed the critical piece of evidence then whatever the CCR sees it they would not they themselves would not have been aware of if they did not even ask for it in the first place how are they because if they didn't know it existed because I think and we've got to be careful because we don't know all the facts of this but the report that I've read tends to suggest that there was really Salient material a photograph about injuries and so on and if that was potentially exculpatory in other words it would have pointed away from him being the person who did it if that was not disclosed then the court of appeal wouldn't have been aware of it and the CCRC wouldn't be aware of it so look what I think we need to take it in stages get to the bottom of what happened but the first thing to work out is did the police do their job and if they didn't then that may well have been what led to injustices down the track okay Alex Justice secretary thank you very much

Channel: Sky News

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Keywords: sky news, sky news live, immigration, uk immigration news, sky news latest, new uk immigration news, sky news politics, immigration news, sky news debate, uk immigration news 2023, uk immigration news today, sky news economy, local elections sky news, sky news local elections, latest sky news, sky, news, illegal immigration, uk immigration, watch sky news, migration, latest news, migration crisis, illegal migration bill, uk migration, net migration, barge, bibby stockholm

Id: p-mwNk_1_5M

Length: 9min 49sec (589 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 08 2023