European Union (Amendment) Bill

My Lords, I am not going to press this amendment to a Division, which is just as well. Listening to the noble Baroness, Lady Ludford, I can see that we would be in the usual position where she would not support anything I have proposed. That has been pretty well the position throughout discussions on this legislation. As I said, this is by and large a probing amendment. Perhaps one of the most important aspects of borders and asylum is security. We discussed this at length during the passage of the UK Borders Bill when our own border agency was set up. It was clear then that the security of our borders was extremely important. We want to be absolutely sure that we are not blown off that course in any way. The noble Baroness, Lady Ludford, referred to FRONTEX. My understanding was that one of the problems of being excluded from it was that it now does not have access to our intelligence, and vice versa. There are problems of a lack of co-operation. We do not disagree about co-operation, but we still have anxieties about the amount of co-operation and force that will come about. I am grateful to the Minister for her typically clear reply. She probably did not answer whether the Government had any intention of opting out of the reception conditions directive, but perhaps she could let me have that in writing; that would be helpful. With all the other aspects we have discussed, we will remain sceptical as to whether, if push comes to shove, the lines will hold. That is the great danger that we see which the Minister is trying to be reassuring about, saying that we have everything stacked up to ensure that we can manage our own affairs. Our concern is that we have not, and that there would be occasions when the Government would now find it difficult, under the circumstances brought about through this legislation, to hold the line. If that was the case, we would probably have to come back to it again. For tonight, however, I beg leave to withdrawn the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. [Amendments Nos. 4 to 11 not moved.]