Lucy Rigby MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 4 Sept 2025 · People Smuggling · Hansard source

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  I am more than happy to look at that, but the point the hon. Member makes about international co-operation is extremely important. That is why I highlighted our groundbreaking deal with France—it is a deal that the Conservatives were unable to do—which will be absolutely key to stopping people crossing the channel.

• 4 Sept 2025 · People Smuggling · Hansard source

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  Anyone involved in the vile trade of people smuggling will be met with the full force of the law. This year, 67% more offences for facilitating illegal entry into the UK were prosecuted. I am pleased to tell my hon. Friend that the Government’s Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill will allow for more prosecutions, including by criminalising the creation of online material that facilitates a breach of UK immigration law.

• 4 Sept 2025 · People Smuggling · Hansard source

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  I think this is important to look at, and I want to highlight that the CPS is taking considerable action to prosecute these offences. We have given the CPS extra funding to increase its capacity to work on Border Security Command cases, and the money will allow the CPS to recruit additional staff in the areas at the frontline of combating organised immigration crime.

• 4 Sept 2025 · People Smuggling · Hansard source

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  I have heard from Crown Prosecution Service prosecutors about the deplorable actions that the smugglers take in not only facilitating very young children being aboard the boats, but even sedating them to ensure they are compliant during the crossing. My hon. Friend is right that the dangers faced by people, particularly children, when they cross the channel are extremely grave. This Government are absolutely determined to break the business model of the people smugglers, so protecting our borders and stopping lives, including young lives, being put in such danger.

• 4 Sept 2025 · People Smuggling · Hansard source

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  The Conservatives left us with a borders crisis, and we are fixing it. The shadow Solicitor General said that we are setting up a new independent body to clear appeals more quickly, and that is exactly what we are doing. We have doubled the number of asylum decisions already: we are sorting out their mess.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Support for Victims of Crime · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member has done important work in this area. We met previously to discuss the potential for reckless spiking, and I entirely understand why he is concerned about that. The correspondence that we sent reflected that we had had discussions with the CPS who felt that the circumstances that he was concerned about were very unlikely to arise. However, I am more than happy to meet him again if he believes that there are issues that need to be further clarified.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Support for Victims of Crime · Hansard source

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  This Government are committed to restoring confidence in the criminal justice system, which means ensuring that victims of crime are properly supported through the justice process. The CPS is taking a range of measures to better support victims, including by offering pre-trial meetings to adult victims of rape and serious sexual assault, recruiting victim liaison officers to act as a consistent point of contact for victims, and delivering the groundbreaking victim transformation programme.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Support for Victims of Crime · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member raises a very important point, and I acknowledge how damaging stalking can be to people’s lives, particularly when it comes to repeat offenders. We have set out new measures to tackle stalking, including statutory guidance to empower the police to release the identities of online stalkers and a review of the stalking legislation to ensure that it is fit for purpose.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Support for Victims of Crime · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising the important role that organisations such as CARA play in supporting victims of rape and serious sexual violence. Supporting victims throughout the criminal justice process is a priority for this Government, and we are taking a range of measures to do just that, including implementing Raneem’s law to embed dedicated domestic abuse teams within 999 control rooms and introducing free independent legal advisers for victims of adult rape.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Support for Victims of Crime · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend rightly highlights the necessary and important action that this Government are taking to address the crisis in our courts. Alongside that, the CPS is using every tool at its disposal to reduce the backlog, including by trialling new initiatives to expedite domestic abuse trials and weekly listing meetings with partners in the criminal justice system.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Court Backlog · Hansard source

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  The Government inherited a record court backlog in the Crown court. On taking office, we took immediate action, including by funding a record high number of sitting days. The CPS is playing its part to help tackle these issues. That includes setting up a surge team, which has completed more than 12,000 pre-charge decisions, contributing significantly to reducing the backlog.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Court Backlog · Hansard source

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  The CPS is indeed stepping up to the plate to play its role in reducing the backlog. In line with the Government’s manifesto commitment, the CPS is exploring options for expanding the role of non-legal resources to support the system. It has also set up the surge team that I referred to. I can also confirm that the CPS is working with the judiciary, His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service and other criminal justice system stakeholders on a range of local initiatives, including a trial blitz, case resolution courts and weekly listing meetings.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Court Backlog · Hansard source

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  I am extremely sorry to hear about Dani’s case. The previous Government closed over 260 court buildings, and the human cost of the delays as a result of the backlog is really considerable. Victims are waiting years for justice, and attrition in rape cases in particular has more than doubled in the last five years. As I said, on taking office we took immediate action, and not only in relation to sitting days. We have also committed to investing up to £92 million more a year in criminal legal aid, and we are taking action to ensure that there are more specialist counsel available, too.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Economic Crime · Hansard source

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  Fraud is the most common type of crime in the UK. It hurts individuals and businesses and undermines everyone who plays by the rules—and it undermines economic confidence too. That is why the Government have underlined their commitment to tackling economic crime by providing the SFO with an £8 million boost as part of the spending review. That will bolster the SFO’s intelligence capabilities so that it can proactively identify and prosecute the biggest and most complex economic crimes.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Economic Crime · Hansard source

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  I am sorry to hear about the position that the hon. Member’s constituents have been put in. It is a terrible example, which I am sure needs to be looked at much more closely. As he knows, the Serious Fraud Office is operationally independent. As a highly specialist agency, it takes on a number of complex economic crime cases each year. The case he raises may be one for it; it may also be one for Action Fraud. I am more than happy to examine it further and to raise it with the appropriate agency.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Economic Crime · Hansard source

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  I am very sorry to hear about the position that my hon. Friend’s constituent has been put in. I am sorry to say that it encapsulates perfectly why fraud is so damaging. The Government are doing everything in our power to crack down on fraud and corruption and support victims of these crimes. I am more than happy to meet my hon. Friend to see what more might be done in this case.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Duty of Candour · Hansard source

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  I know how much work my hon. Friend has been doing to support justice for Hillsborough families and indeed to push for a Hillsborough law. As she knows, I am unable by convention to disclose whether the Law Officers are advising the Government—nor, of course, the content of any advice—but I know that colleagues are working to bring forward a Hillsborough law as soon as possible.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Duty of Candour · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for her question. She has been a resolute and steadfast champion for the Hillsborough families, and indeed for the justice she referred to. As she knows, the Government, including the Prime Minister, have been working closely with the families, and I can confirm that the draft Bill will include a statutory duty of candour for public servants, with criminal sanctions for those who do not comply, and measures to decisively tackle the disparity between the state and bereaved families at inquests. As to timing, I know that everyone is working extremely hard to get the legislation right. The Government hope to be in a position to introduce a Bill to Parliament very soon.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Grooming Gangs · Hansard source

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  As we heard from the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Yardley (Jess Phillips), in the House this week, the Home Office is making important progress in implementing those recommendations. Thousands of cases have been identified for formal review, and priority cases—those involving an allegation of rape—are being reviewed urgently. Increasing funding for the tackling exploitation programme will allow all police forces to access cutting-edge technology to combat these horrific crimes.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Grooming Gangs · Hansard source

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  As the hon. Gentleman will know, listing is a matter for the independent judiciary. However, I can tell him that certain areas have pilot schemes of weekly listing meetings across criminal justice partners to ensure—as he says—that we lessen victim attrition, which is unfortunately far too high as a result of the record court backlog.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Grooming Gangs · Hansard source

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  The grooming and sexual exploitation of young girls in this country is nothing short of sickening, and the Government are doing everything in our power to secure justice for the victims and protect children from further harm. The Crown Prosecution Service has significantly increased prosecutions for child sex offences and recently secured convictions against three offenders for truly hideous crimes going back to 1999.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Grooming Gangs · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman refers to a very important issue, which is why I am pleased to tell him that through our flagship Crime and Policing Bill we are working to implement the key recommendations from the Jay review, one of which is including long-overdue mandatory reporting duties for those working with children. It also includes making grooming an aggravating factor in sentencing and crucial changes to address safeguarding loopholes.

• 4 Sept 2025 · Grooming Gangs · Hansard source

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  I am pleased to tell my hon. Friend that the CPS is working actively alongside the Government to ensure that the criminal convictions for victims of child sexual exploitation, with the offence in that case being prostitution, are being disregarded, which is extremely important.

• 4 Sept 2025 · International Law: Compliance · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member will appreciate that as a Law Officer I cannot talk about the specifics of legal advice to Government. However, he will be aware of paragraph 1.6 of the ministerial code that acknowledges the overarching duty on all Ministers to comply with the law. That obligation is inherent in all the advice that the Law Officers give to Government.

• 4 Sept 2025 · International Law: Compliance · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member will appreciate that I cannot comment on any legal advice that may or may not have been given or, indeed, whether it has been sought. What I can confirm to him is twofold. First, the Government take their legal obligations extremely seriously. Secondly, the Government are very clear in our position that the horrors taking place in Gaza need to be brought to an end.