Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

My Lords, I welcome the fact that my noble friend Lord Lester of Herne Hill has drawn attention to these important paragraphs in the JCHR report, which I have had the chance to look at while he was speaking. The amendment tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, would provide transitional protection, but only for those who have outstanding applications for indefinite leave to remain or for British citizenship at the time of commencement of the provisions in Part 2, so it is more limited than the recommendations of the JCHR. In Committee, at col. 540, the Minister gave an assurance that any application for naturalisation that had been lodged before the earned citizenship provisions came into effect would be treated under existing arrangements. He went on to say that an examination was in progress to determine what transitional arrangements should be made for those in the immigration system who had yet to submit an application for ILR or for naturalisation. I asked the Minister at the time whether the transitional arrangements for all those in the system, including those who had applied for ILR, would take into account the ruling, referred to indirectly by the JCHR and my noble friend, upholding the right of legitimate expectation and against retrospection in the Immigration Rules in the case of HSMP Forum Ltd, which I quoted in Committee. I had not given the Minister prior notice of that question but, now that he has had the opportunity to consider it, can we have it on the record that the transitional arrangements, including those for people whose applications for ILR were lodged prior to commencement, will have full regard to that judgment? I appreciate that there is a problem regarding persons now on limited leave to remain who need to complete five years—or two in the case of closely related family—before they can apply for ILR. The principle should be that they reach the point where they were entitled to apply for naturalisation no later than they would have done in the absence of this Bill. We would be grateful for an assurance to that effect from the Minister.