2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:17 pm on 8 November 2022.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 2:17, 8 November 2022

It's very hard for the Welsh Government, or the local authority, I would say, to work with UK Government when they're completely ignored. As you say, we had no prior knowledge of this, and I want to be really clear, Llywydd, that the UK Government is responsible for immigration policy and delivery. They've got a system now that I think is broken and they really need to fix this as quickly as possible, because what we're seeing are the human consequences of that broken system, and I don't think it does anyone any good.

I know that the Minister for Social Justice is or has written to the Home Office as a matter of urgency today to make these points very, very strongly. And this isn't at you at all, but I think I would want to appeal to everybody, as you've raised this issue, that it is really best to avoid the use of inflammatory language when we're dealing with this issue. I've certainly seen words that I wouldn't have wanted to see in relation to this, and words have consequences, and I think it's really important that we all treat this issue with sensitivity and care.