UK Borders Bill

We have had a good and sometimes lively debate on this group of amendments and on new clause 1. I am grateful to hon. Members in all parts of the House who spoke in support of the arguments that I put in favour of the new clause. I accept what my hon. Friend the Minister says about the statutory restrictions that prevent the Home Office and its agencies from giving the kind of information that I spoke about earlier. We are putting in place a new Act of Parliament and it is our responsibility to set a statutory framework that we think is right, so I urge my hon. Friend to go further than he has done so far. I understand, too, that my new clause has legal ramifications, with which the drafting that I prepared may not fully deal. I, after all, do not have available to me the same resources for drafting legislation as the Minister and his Department, but by tabling the new clause I wanted to put down a marker to my hon. Friend that I will not go away and that the issue is important. I am pleased that, at the very least, our debate has sparked a wholesale review of the Department’s policy on disclosure of information. A fundamental point has still not been addressed with respect to the balance of rights between victims of crime and the offenders who commit those crimes, so there is a need for more to be done. I accept the Minister’s offer of a meeting, to discuss not just the interests of my individual constituent, but the wider issue to which I have just referred. I accept that he is going in the right direction and intends to do more. On the basis of his assurances, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the motion. Motion and clause, by leave, withdrawn.