Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

The discussion on to which we have been diverted, which I hoped would not happen, was whether there should be some better name for the second phase, whereas what the noble Baroness was asking initially was what the difference was between the two phases. I ventured to suggest in my remarks that, although we did not particularly like the term "probationary citizenship leave", that was not the gravamen of our criticism of the whole scheme. When the Minister first replied to the noble Baroness, he made three points. When she asked him what the essential difference was between the two parts of the scheme, I carefully took down what he said. First, he said that it was a key part of the Government’s vision. What the hell does that mean? It is totally meaningless. He then said that citizenship should be earned. Nobody is arguing about that; what we are saying is that you do not need two stages in which that earning process can take place. It could be continuous, from the person’s arrival in the country to the date on which he is eligible to apply for citizenship. Having an arbitrary cut-off point halfway through, allowing you to christen the second phase by a different name, is totally meaningless. The third point that the Minister made was that the second phase enables the migrant to demonstrate his commitment. Well, he has to demonstrate his commitment; there are certain rules that he has to comply with. He has to go through the earned citizenship process; he has to learn English; he has to avoid committing any criminal offence; and all the rest of it. We are not arguing about that. All we are saying—and I do not know how many times one has to repeat this—is that the imposition of a change in the title halfway through does not get us anywhere but simply adds complexity and bureaucracy to the process. I would prefer to call these phases "temporary leave to remain, one and two"; if we have to have two phases, let us make it clear that they are actually the same by calling them by the same name. Then, if we want to have them as different phases, we can attach "one" and "two" to them. I would prefer a much simpler solution, with a single stage starting from the date of the person’s entry to the United Kingdom. It would have all the hoops that he had to jump through but it would get to a point at the end at which he could apply for citizenship. I wish that I could convince the Minister of that, but I dare say that that is not going to be possible this afternoon. At this stage, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 48 withdrawn. Amendment 49 not moved.