I will listen with interest to the Minister’s reply, on behalf of the Government, to this amendment. The amendment states:
“Within six months of the passing of this Act, the Secretary of State must issue … a review of its implications”.
One will have to start pretty smartly, once the Act comes in, to carry out a review and put it out for public consultation within six months. I am not necessarily sure that the implications will be fully known within six months, but presumably the movers of the amendment feel that that could be addressed and it could be done within that timespan. Usually, the Government would argue that this is far too quick and that they need more than six months.
What also strikes me is that the review is not going to be independent, or at least, the amendment does not say it will be. It states that
“the Secretary of State must issue for public consultation a review”.
It could be independent or it could be knocked together by the Secretary of State herself, as far as the amendment is concerned. It may be done by members of the Government, but I am not sure Mr Johnson ever talks in negative terms about his own legislation. If it is going to be a government review, I do not think it will say that the implications are adverse in any way. If it does, it would be a remarkable change of stance from this Government.
The amendment also says that it is a review only of the “implications” of this Act
“for the nature of British citizenship”.
To take the wording strictly, it is not a general review of
“British citizenship and national cohesion”,
but one purely related to the “implications” of this Act for
“the nature of British citizenship and national cohesion”.
Those were a few thoughts on the wording of the amendment. If the Government wish to accept it, fine. We will not stand here and demand they change their stance, but I will listen to the Government’s response with interest. I suspect they may not accept it, or they may tell us that they are already doing other work on the nature of British citizenship and national cohesion, and we should wait for that and that it will be available in due course—which may be some years ahead.