Debate contribution: Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill: Legislative Consent Motion
Debate contribution by Ms Connie Egan on .
- MLA
- Ms Connie Egan
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 23 June 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Executive Committee Business
- Heading
- Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill: Legislative Consent Motion
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5045955
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I put on record my support and that of my Alliance colleagues for the legislative consent motion endorsing the extension of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill to Northern Ireland. Whilst it is, of course, preferable to legislate on devolved matters through an Assembly Bill, legislative consent motions have an important role to play in providing a timely and reasonable approach to how we across the Chamber ensure that Northern Ireland has much-needed provisions that deliver for the benefit of the public. The measures in the Bill that are relevant to the Department of Justice are about enabling more effective interventions to protect UK border security, making it easier for police and defence forces to disrupt and detect those who are engaged in crime. The Bill is incredibly pertinent to national security. Once it becomes law, it is vital that the Department and its operational partners work collectively to ensure its successful implementation. Establishing a framework to allow for the sharing of trailer registration information with specific government bodies is a practical and useful tool for the detection of crime, and the provisions relating to serious crime more broadly expand the legislative apparatus to tackle criminality across the United Kingdom. Passing the motion will send a clear message from the Assembly to all those who are engaged in criminality that we will do everything that is within our gift as political representatives to prevent and intervene in their activities. Alliance is committed to working collectively to ensure that those who put our communities at risk and exploit vulnerable people for their own gain do not go unchallenged. The principles of the motion will allow the Assembly to protect the people whom we serve. I hope that that is why colleagues across the Chamber will vote positively today.
298 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.04 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.04 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.05 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.06 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.57 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.04 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.79 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.19 |
| Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty | 0.02 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:50 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
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