Welfare Reform Bill

And whose fault is it that someone has two national insurance numbers? Which Government administer a system that allows such a thing to happen? The idea that they respond to that by curtailing appeal rights—[Interruption.] Will the hon. Gentleman listen to the response to the question that he asked? He said that the process is slow because of all those appeals. Is he suggesting that appeal rights get in the way? This pesky right of appeal, people's right to appeal to an independent body and challenge what has been done—I do not consider that a problem. People should have a right to legitimate appeal where they can challenge a decision. As a constituency MP, the hon. Gentleman knows, as do I, that the CSA makes mistakes. What if the CSA wanted to take his driving licence away, because the person that he just mentioned was using his national insurance number, but he did not get his day in court, because somebody in the CSA, whom he could not speak to, was able to take his driving licence away? What would he do in those circumstances? [Interruption.] The Minister for Pensions and the Ageing Society says that he could appeal and get the decision revoked—after however long that would take. The Government are saying that there is no reason to go through a court, that an official can take driving licences away and that people will be able to appeal, which is presumably akin to a judicial process. So what would we gain? The state would be allowed to take people's driving licences away without going through a court while allowing people to appeal to a tribunal. That would be a really big step forward. Will the Secretary of State clarify the position in the European Union on passports? The countries that he has cited where people had their passports taken away, or where they were threatened and then began to contribute to maintenance payments, are outside the EU. Will he clarify whether withdrawing passports would threaten people's freedom of movement within the EU—I wonder whether he has got the legal position on that—or is the policy empty posturing once again, which involves sounding tough but not delivering? We will not oppose the Bill tonight, because of the provisions on disabled people. We do not want to stand in the way of the chunk of measures that will enable and empower disabled people. The philosophy, if one can grace the measure with such a term, of coercion, as against support, and making people take up packages—if the packages were any good, people would take them up anyway—is fundamentally coercive and illiberal, and it does not command our support.