My Lords, I react with as much puzzlement to the Minister calling the government amendments “technical matters” as my noble friend Lady Hamwee did when the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, called her Amendments 78 to 91 on licensing, “technical amendments”. These are about people’s livelihoods, whether it is a licence or closing premises. It seems an extraordinary use of Executive power for an immigration officer to be able to close premises—a shop or other place of work—under the conditions that have been cited. I cannot see how this complies with the rule of law. There is going to be no transparency in this process.
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My noble friend Lady Hamwee asked about what records would be kept of the decision-making process by an immigration officer and whether these records would be available. The whole point of a court process is that there is, as far as possible, transparency in how the decision is made. It simply does not meet the test of adequate due process if the Government, through an immigration officer, can close someone’s place of work for two days. There would then be a certain momentum for the illegal working compliance order. If the immigration officer, or chief immigration officer, has said that there is employment of an illegal worker—although, as my noble friend pointed out, the immigration officer could be wrong; he only has to have reasonable suspicion that an illegal worker is there—there would surely be a certain momentum before the magistrates’ court that would make it very hard to overturn or oppose an illegal working compliance order closing a premises for two years.
I utterly support my noble friends Lady Hamwee and Lord Paddick in opposing that Clause 12 and Schedule 3 stand part of the Bill and their other amendments in that group.