My Lords, I think that, if the House divided now, we might win on this, but let us not pursue that thought. I will just say that I am extremely grateful to the noble Baronesses, Lady Lister of Burtersett and Lady Fox of Buckley, for their contributions to this debate. I am overwhelming grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Rosser, for missing the point entirely and doing the Government’s work for them so effectively. However, I will look to him for support if I come back on Report, having changed the amendment to allow a more ample period for the review to be carried out and possibly even to specify who might carry it out. We could appoint the noble Lord himself in statute to lead it. If that were the case, perhaps he would come round to supporting it.
I much preferred the response of my noble and learned friend the Minister, not least because he brought Cicero into it. If the Committee will indulge me for a moment—I know that it is very late—I have to say that I once asked the current Prime Minister, when he was in a different role, for a reference for a particular purpose. One of the questions was, “Could you give an account of his speaking skills and abilities?” In the large box beneath it, in which he was expected to write several paragraphs, he simply wrote, “Ciceronian”. So my noble and learned friend will know that he is on the right side of power at the moment in his insight, and he should cling to that position for as long as it lasts.
On substance, I cannot do better than repeat the intervention made just now by the noble Baroness, Lady Fox of Buckley. She said what I think the three of us wanted to say: there is a role for a debate about what citizenship and nationality mean. In my view, it is incumbent on the Government, especially in the new circumstances in which we have found ourselves since leaving the European Union, to initiate such a debate and have views on what the answers to those questions are.
I will not elaborate further on that because the noble Baroness said it very clearly. Temporally, noble Lords will be relieved to know that I shall not divide the Committee just now, despite the favourability of the numbers. I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.