Number 10 Press Briefing - Afternoon From 26 July 2010
Briefing by the Prime Minister's Spokesman on: Afghanistan and immigration.
Afghanistan
Asked if the Prime Minister was concerned that the leaked documents on the war in Afghanistan had details of war crimes, the Prime Minister’s Spokeswoman (PMS) said that we did not comment on leaked documents.
Immigration
Asked if the Prime Minister was concerned about the High Court ruling on banning fast track deportation, the PMS said that the Home Office had responded to this and the Prime Minister echoed the response; we were disappointed with the Court’s judgement and would be appealing. The policy of making limited exceptions in special circumstances to 72-hour notification of immigration removal has been an important element of our management of removals. The Government remained committed to removing individuals with no right to be in the UK as quickly as possible.
Put that the Immigration Minister had said that it was important Britain was not seen as a soft touch and asked if the Prime Minister was concerned that today’s ruling portrayed us as such, the PMS repeated that we were disappointed in the result and would be appealing. We had introduced measures concerning immigration and it was an area we were looking at further. The PMS referred reporters to statements the Home Secretary had already made on this area.