UK Borders Bill

I am glad that I thought I saw some sign of movement from the Minister, in that he did not completely reject the idea of a change in the age limit of—that is, the idea of increasing it—and said that that would be subject to further consultation. Perhaps at a later stage of the Bill after the summer we can hear more about that consultation. I found the remarks on the subject of raising the age from my noble kinsman Lord Avebury very depressing, saying that it would not make it easier in patriarchal societies for young girls to resist forced or coerced marriages or even to give proper informed consent. It might be that a lot of these young girls are coming from patriarchal societies, but my limited experience of daughters implies that they can still resist what fathers might suggest. I can take my noble kinsman back to the England of Jane Austen, which was, if nothing else, a patriarchal society, and we all know from that that young girls were able on occasion to resist what their fathers might suggest. A little age often makes it somewhat easier to do that. It would therefore be a good idea for the Government to think about that further and certainly to consult further on the possibility of raising the age for such young girls so that they had a greater chance of resisting a forced or coerced marriage. I was grateful to my noble kinsman for suggesting that all applicants should be interviewed in their country of origin before they come here to make it clear that they are capable of giving proper, informed consent and that the marriage was not sham, forced or coerced. I do not know whether we will want to come back to this later, but I hope we will hear more in due course from the Government. They might want to reflect on it during the summer and before Report stage. I will withdraw this amendment now but it is likely that I will wish to come back with it at a later stage in order to hear what further developments there have been over the course of the summer, what consultations there have been and how far the Government are going in their application for leave to appeal against the judgment in the Baiai case. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.