Topical Questions

Adam Jogee, the Labour MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, asked the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, to make a statement on her departmental responsibilities. The Home Secretary acknowledged the recent rise in shoplifting and street crime, as well as the decline in neighbourhood policing figures. She stated that the Government is determined to restore neighbourhood policing and that the new crime and policing Bill will include measures to support this and give the police stronger powers to tackle shoplifting and antisocial behaviour. Jogee welcomed the Government's commitment to restoring effective neighbourhood policing and asked the Home Secretary to meet him to discuss how Newcastle-under-Lyme can benefit from this. The Home Secretary and the Policing Minister agreed to discuss the importance of rebuilding neighbourhood policing in Jogee's constituency and across the country. The Conservative MP James Cleverly, the shadow Home Secretary, criticised the Home Secretary for failing to respond to his letter and for using unpublished figures in her statement. He asked where the Government plans to send failed asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Syria and Iran. The Home Secretary responded by criticising the former Home Secretary's policies, stating that his government sent more Home Secretaries to Rwanda than they did asylum seekers. Other MPs raised issues such as the use of e-bikes and e-scooters, the attack on a Royal Engineer in Rochester and Strood, the fight against drink spiking, rural crime, the threat from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the sale of weapons, and the treatment of refugee children. The Home Secretary and Home Office Ministers provided responses addressing these concerns.