Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill

I apologise for speaking in the wrong place and shall try to speak briefly in the proper place. I hope that the Minister will take it from me, who was in the Civil Service brigade for 30 years, that when a civil servant has responsibility for a Bill one needs sharp elbows to get the blessed thing through. Too many amendments are not welcome. Perhaps if I were that civil servant, I should be saying, ““This is the higher education lobby at it again””. That is not the case in my mind or, I believe, in the mind of others. The issue is material to enabling one of our few leading world-class industries to contribute to the national income we have a growing negative balance of trade in services and goods. It is a highly competitive industry in which states are vigorous in seeking to increase market share, and ours is declining. I hope that this broad national interest, on top of that of the universities, will be borne in mind by the Government.