Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

I apologise again because my noble friend Lord Glentoran is unable to be here and my noble friend Viscount Bridgeman has to leave for a short time. I move Amendment 108A and speak to Amendments 108B, 108BA, 108C, 108D and Clause 46 stand part, all of which belong together. I will speak to Clause 46 stand part with other noble Lords because, unless the Government can persuade us of its merits, we see no justification for Clause 46 standing part of the Bill. There are many reasons for this. It is partly because of the very high cost, with benefits unknown but probably negligible; the practicality of implementation; the lack of consultation; and the Government’s confused thinking in this area, which does not seem to warrant the endorsement of your Lordships’ House or inclusion in the Bill. The amendments that we have tabled to this clause would have, I hope, the effect of reversing the Government’s perceived proposals to abolish the common travel area, although the Minister says that this is not the Government’s intention. The Official Opposition are in favour of retaining and strengthening a travel arrangement that has served the people of the British Isles very well for almost a century. The clause would end passport-free travel between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man, and the United Kingdom and the Channel Islands. There was some discussion of this on the previous amendment. I turn first to the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. These three self-governing dependencies are referred to as the Islands. They are sometimes referred to as the British Islands for the very good reason that they are dependencies of the Crown and are inhabited, for the most part, by British nationals. As my noble friend Lord Glentoran asked at Second Reading, in what possible way will putting up a barrier between the United Kingdom and these islands help to protect our borders? It really is not enough for the Government to give an assurance that any checks will be on an ad hoc basis, as indeed the Minister just has again. If the power is there, it is there to be used. We have seen correspondence from the Isle of Man Government and the States of Jersey that makes clear their opposition to this clause. There is a long-established protocol that the Islands will be consulted on changes to UK immigration laws. To my knowledge, they have always adapted corresponding provisions. Perhaps the Minister will be kind enough to tell the Committee why the Government did not bother to consult the Islands about the changes proposed in this Bill. There are constitutional issues here, which the Government appear to have failed to address. The Bill makes no distinction whatever between the constitutional relationship between the Islands and the relationship with the Republic of Ireland, which is, of course, entirely different. Was this was just a simple difficulty in the drafting, or a failure by the Government to think through this proposal? The main thrust of this clause is, I suspect, aimed at the border between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. We would not be able to guess at the reasons, although the Minister has outlined some of those in dealing with the previous amendment. What will the Government gain from intervening in the common travel area, which has survived the Second World War and the Northern Ireland Troubles? The CTA is an internal immigration arrangement and nothing more. By messing around with it the Government will not magically shut down the flow of illegal goods or change the face of illegal immigration to the UK. They will simply hinder the free travel of British and Irish citizens. The impact assessment produced by the Government explains in Section 2.6: ""Notwithstanding the principle of free travel within the CTA, it is not lawful for a person who is not a British Citizen to enter the UK (including the Crown dependencies) where their presence was unlawful in another part of the CTA, unless they are given leave to enter. The practical effect of this is that if someone with valid leave in the UK or Islands travels to another part of the CTA, and their leave subsequently expires, and that person then returns to the United Kingdom or Islands without obtaining further leave, that person becomes an illegal entrant. This enables enforcement action to be taken when appropriate and reduces the risk of abuse within the CTA"." In other words, the lack of an internal border has no magic effect on the rights and entitlements of those under immigration control. The most dramatic effect of the reimposition of controls will be on those not subject to immigration control, and the cost of that can be seen both in the Government’s impact statement and in the correspondence that I have received along with other noble Lords. The cost of implementation, according to the impact statement, could be as much as £75 million and that will mainly fall on the tourism industry. Is it clever in any circumstances, particularly in the current economic climate, to affect the tourism industry in that island? Thousands of people will presumably find that they need a passport to visit friends, family and colleagues where before they did not. Have the Government considered the knock-on costs on hauliers, ports and the countless businesses that rely on them? Again, the impact assessment rather damningly cannot put any figure at all on the benefits to be accrued under this clause. That speaks for itself. Any claims that this clause will improve the United Kingdom’s security sounds rather unlikely given that this measure was not deemed necessary even in the security crisis of the 1970s and 1980s. If the Government are serious about wishing to protect our borders, our citizens’ way of life and our good relations with our only land neighbour, they would engage constructively with the Republic of Ireland and with the Islands to construct a secure e-Border system that would encompass the whole of the British Isles and allow free travel therein without unwarranted and costly intrusion from the state. We do not believe that this clause is justified and we believe that its removal would make this a better Bill. I beg to move.