Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

The noble Lord is making presumptions that are not necessarily in the Government’s mind. We are seeking to have on the face of the Bill the ability, in extraordinary circumstances and in the dynamic society in which we live, to make proposals that will be subject to confirmation under the affirmative resolution procedure. We have no desire at this stage to make any changes; the changes are in the Bill that we have brought forward. It is wrong to presume from the fact that we need an enabling clause that there is any intention at the moment to do anything. However, we do live, and have lived over the past half-century, in extraordinary circumstances of migration. One thinks of the current problems in Zimbabwe and the problems in east Africa and other parts of the world. We simply want the ability to bring the issue forward for discussion and approval without the requirement for primary legislation in the case of extraordinary events occurring.