UK Borders Bill

I understand the commitment of my noble friend on these issues. He does not have to convince me. It is important to recognise that it is precisely through these kinds of measures, with their unintended consequences, that resentment is built up among the ethnic minority population in this country. For all the reasons, of which we have been all too well aware, that have been given in the past week, that is a dangerous thing to do as well as being wrong. If the Government, commendably, are emphasising the importance of the identity of citizenship, the confidence of citizenship, the importance of becoming a full UK citizen and so on, and the experience of a significant section of the population is that they are second-class citizens because they can be picked on and are being picked on more than white members of the community, that will cause resentment and will certainly lead to a feeling of profound hypocrisy about the whole process of government. If his department, of all departments, is talking about the importance of security, which in my view is related very strongly to the idea of full citizenship and the identity with citizenship, that point cannot be rationalised away. The points made by the Joint Committee are very real possibilities. We need to hear evidence why the Government believe that those possibilities will not become probabilities.