Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

My Lords, this Bill is not set in Utopia, which I think in Greek means ““nowhere””, although someone will correct me if I am wrong. Many of us are very uneasy about this subject, perhaps because we would prefer to live in Utopia. I remember from some years ago a catchphrase that went, ““Stop the world, I want to get off””, but nowadays some people might say, ““Stop the world, I want to get on””. We are talking against a background of growing world inequality and horrible pressures across the Sahara. The income gap between sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, and the rest of the world is growing bigger. Therefore, we are in a world where reality presents insoluble dilemmas. I do not like the word ““insoluble”” but in our lifetime it is hard to think that those dilemmas will be soluble in any full sense. It is an imperfect world, but many theologians have been saying things about imperfection for a long time. We know that this is not an immigration Bill but an amelioration Bill in some ways. Some of us who feel unhappy about the world we live in have to bite the bullet and be objective. The noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Eames, has been doing a noble job in recent weeks, for which he has not been getting many brownie points, about the realities across the Irish Sea. I commend him for that and hope that he will be rewarded in heaven; I do not think that it will be any time sooner. I mention the Irish Sea because I understand that for the first time, depending on how you travel, the regime there will be affected by this Bill. I have not heard much discussion on that but I think that Ireland and Britain are doing the same thing because we are not in Schengen. However, we have to deal with some of the realities confronting us, however painful. I listened carefully to my noble friend Lord Morris of Handsworth, and one wants to agree 100 per cent with everything that he said. When we get to the detail of the Bill we shall have to see what can be done. This is not the Bill that was envisaged six or nine months ago. It is a Bill that is beginning in the House of Lords, but which has come between one we had last year and one that we will have next year. I think that is where it fits in. Some of the issues that it confronts will not go away. My noble friend Lord Morris mentioned cricket, and this is a variation on the cricket test. The European Union is a different animal from the rest of the world. It now includes the best part of 500 million people and it is a great preoccupation There are about four different categories of timetable, including a timetable for the eight countries of eastern Europe—the Baltics and the others. There is a timetable involving different questions on Romania and Bulgaria, and there are longer timetables and question marks for Turkey and Ukraine. In all that lot we have the west Balkans and have to consider whether there are different sheep and goats there. That is a huge project which has worked well in some respects, but it raises the question of relations between this area and the rest of the world. Some thought must be given to the problems of a two-tier society if there are people with vulnerable employment status for long periods—say five years or whatever. One does not need to talk of unscrupulous employers to recognise that many people will be affected by the Bill and will be looking for new ways of being assisted. I am thinking of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority after that terrible tragedy in Morecambe Bay. There is scope in the Bill to think about a new resource reference for people to make sure that they are not second-class citizens with regard to employment. If too many people have a vulnerable status there will definitely be a two-tier employment market. There is no way round that. Both UNISON and the PCS have been making points along those lines. I draw attention to the wonderful job that the TUC commission, chaired by Brendan Barber, has done on vulnerable employment. I know that my noble friend will be aware of the tremendous amount of work in Whitehall on the implementation of the commission’s recommendations. We have to do what we can to ensure that the second tier of the labour market gets a fair crack of the whip and does not become a sort of vicious circle. There is a period of five years, which is quite a long time, and we need to make sure that people do not become further disadvantaged. I am sure that we can consider the issues of vulnerable groups and industries in Committee. My noble friends in the Government have no alternative but to try to grasp the nettle on many of the issues in the Bill, and I hope that they will keep a relatively open mind on the amendments that might be tabled in Committee when we have had time to look at these questions in more detail.