Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

My Lords, with regard to Amendment 24, I am extremely grateful to at least five of your Lordships, in all parts of the House, who spoke in its support. If this debate does one thing and speeds up the rate at which the Government deal with the huge backlog of asylum applications, that will be major progress. At the moment, the backlog far exceeds the annual number of new cases that the Government are so pleased to be dealing with within six months. I hope that we shall hear further explanation of the precise meaning of the government amendments. While I shall need to study the Government’s reply and to take further advice, I beg leave to withdraw Amendment 24. Amendment 24 withdrawn.