Lee Anderson clashes over ECHR and Piddington migrant camp debate

An opposition day debate in Parliament this week examined calls to leave the European Convention on Human Rights and to block plans for a migrant camp near Piddington. The motion was not legally binding. It focused on proposals to place up to 1,250 illegal migrants in a camp next to a village of around 300 to 350 residents.

Lee Anderson said he attended the debate. He complained that no Labour female MPs spoke up for women in the village and that Labour MPs turned out to vote down the motion. He also said no cabinet ministers attended and called that a disgrace. He argued the government cares more about illegal immigrants than the safety of women and children.

Paul Richards disputed that framing. He said opposition day debates are not part of formal lawmaking and are used by opposition parties to publicise issues. Ministers do not attend for that reason, he said, though MPs were whipped to vote the motion down. The exchange became heated.

The discussion turned on the camp and its local impact. Anderson said residents were terrified and that the arrival of migrants would change village life. Richards noted the site had been a military base that previously housed around 1,000 people. Anderson said military personnel could not walk into the village freely without a pass. He said the men in the camp should be put in work gangs in high-vis clothing to clean up litter rather than allowed to roam. Richards warned that cutting off all access would create flashpoints, rioting, murders and arson because the camps are not prisons. Anderson alleged that some men from camps had harassed young girls, raped boys and girls, and committed murders. Richards said such crimes were obviously wrong.

On accommodation policy, Richards said camps were being used as a stopgap because hotels were being closed and cost millions. Anderson rejected faster processing and said people not supposed to be here should be sent home. They also argued about Andy Burnham's suggestion to spread migrants around, with Anderson saying no area should have to take them. The pair clashed over a claim about "lethal force" in the Channel. Anderson denied anyone had proposed machine-gunning people and said any operational decision would be for the Navy or police and must follow the law of the sea. He said officers do not machine-gun people in the English Channel.

The debate also touched on small boat arrivals and the Dublin Agreement. Anderson said around 20,000 illegal migrants a year had been arriving by small boat and that nothing had been done. Richards said many arrivals were linked to leaving the Dublin Agreement after Brexit. Anderson said the UK had been a net recipient under the Dublin rules and had a mechanism to send people back. He also said nearly 84,000 had come over under Labour. The discussion ended with Anderson saying the country cannot go on like this and that women and children's safety is being ignored.