Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

I am sure that we can do that. It is an important point. While I entirely accept the noble Lord’s contention that it has always been the case that a person who is on these routes should be expected to support themselves without access to public funds, there must surely be the occasional exception to that. Anybody with a spark of humanity would say that someone who is in the middle of this phase, and who becomes unintentionally homeless through no fault of their own, would look to the public purse for some sort of help. That was the point that I was trying to make. However, I can see that I am not going to get anywhere with the main argument. I ask the Minister only one further question: what is the real reason for the change in policy? A person was, for the first five years, a worker, or for two years a family member. These periods have suddenly changed. In every case, the time that it takes to become a citizen has become longer. Why do the Government think that that is a better way of getting people to settle in the community?