UK Parliament / Open data

Immigration Bill

Proceeding contribution from Mike Thornton (Liberal Democrat) in the House of Commons on Thursday, 30 January 2014. It occurred during Debate on bills on Immigration Bill.

One of the things that concerns me is the definition of “seriously prejudicial.” If we look up “prejudice” in the dictionary, we see that it just means something we have decided before, so “seriously prejudicial” could be anything a Home Secretary liked. I am absolutely convinced that the present Home Secretary would never in any way abuse that power, but how do we know what will happen next week, next month, in two years’ time, or in five years’ time? A Home Secretary will be able to use a term that is so vague and has so little meaning that they could strip someone of any citizenship, leaving them stuck in this country with no ability to work, receive benefits or do anything at all, simply because of a definition that is pretty much meaningless.

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
574 c1044 
Session
2013-14
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
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