My Lords, so many of the points made in the submission of the noble Lord, Lord Rosser, appear in my briefing note that I am suspicious that the Bill team is leaking him material. Perhaps I should institute a security review. But I am grateful to the noble Lord. I also say to the noble Baroness, Lady Lister of Burtersett, that, far from frazzling the brains of the Front Bench, noble Lords’ contributions to this debate in Committee have had a tonic effect.
I laughed when the noble Lord, Lord Rosser, introduced his remarks by inviting us to look at the wording because, with all due respect to my noble friend Lord Moylan, it seemed there was a degree of pretext about the manner in which this amendment was tabled. I noted that many of the points my noble friend made this evening were foreshadowed in previous debates. I accept that his purpose was to introduce a debate on the nature and values of citizenship, but we lack the time and personnel. This is not to suggest that the noble Lords who contributed are not Members whose views are listened to with the utmost respect, but I think my noble friend wished for a fuller House before these topics were canvassed. I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, who is nodding in agreement.
10.45 pm
My noble friend Lord Moylan spoke about “the joy of citizenship” in a manner which, to Conservatives, called to mind the writings of the late lamented philosopher Sir Roger Scruton. My noble friend spoke about the history of the expression “citizenship” and took us back to the 1981 Act and the circumstances nationally and politically in which it was framed, wondering whether the hopes behind the legislative change in that Act were fulfilled.
Undoubtedly, for many of us, in a British context the expression which “citizenship” replaced, that of being “a British subject”, carried with it, at least in poetic terms, a greater resonance—although that is not to say that “citizen” is not an exceptionally powerful expression in other contexts too, particularly in France and the United States of America, where to say that one is a citizen of those countries is an extremely powerful thing. If the Committee will indulge me, my noble friend’s remarks prompted reflection on the speech of Cicero in the prosecution of Verres, when he drew the jury’s attention to the conduct of the tyrannical despot in flogging a man to death. When strokes landed on his back, he punctuated the blows by exclaiming,
“I am a Roman citizen! I am a Roman citizen! I am a Roman citizen!” That is the power which the word can take on.
Returning to the more mundane, again, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Rosser, for anticipating my point. The amendment does not and could not provide sufficient clarity without the leisurely debate that my noble friend has called for about what it wants the Government to do. It calls for public consultation and a review of the implications for the nature of British citizenship and national cohesion, but it does not say what the terms of reference should be for the review, nor who should lead it—to adopt again, gratefully, the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Rosser. I am therefore concerned at the wide scope of the expressions “nature of British citizenship” and “national cohesion”. The scale of the questions likely to be posed were hinted at in a short but thoughtful contribution by the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, which alone could provide the House with material for a week’s-worth of debate.
The second reason why I cannot accept the amendment is that the call for public consultation—again, the noble Lord, Lord Rosser, was, as they say, bang on the money—to start within six months of Royal Assent is unworkable. Some measures in the Bill will not be fully in effect six months after Royal Assent. Many will, but some will take longer to operationalise, if your Lordships will pardon the neologism. Those measures that are fully in effect will, by definition, have been so for less than six months, so it is very doubtful that any such review could say anything meaningful about the impact they may be having.
However, I assure the Committee that as part of our work to start operating the Bill’s measures, we are drawing up plans to monitor and evaluate its impacts, and to develop the evidence base to support further work. For these reasons, and anticipating—