Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [Lords]

I am pleased to follow the hon. Member for Walthamstow (Mr. Gerrard), and to support amendment 8 for the reasons that he has just given. I am also pleased to speak in the same debate as the hon. Member for Thurrock (Andrew Mackinlay), who said some very sensible things about new clause 1 concerning citizens of the Republic of Ireland. I know from my recent constituency experience attending the Eastleigh and District Irish Association dinner dance that that proposal would affect many people across the country, and it deserves support for that reason if no other. I want to speak in support of new clauses 3 and 7, and amendments 4, 5, 1, 40, 7, 2 and 22. Those provisions all concern the new requirements being imposed by the Government in relation to British citizenship and naturalisation. The new path that the Government are laying out amends provisions on naturalisation in the British Nationality Act 1981. This overhaul is well intentioned and is broadly something that we can support, but it has resulted in certain aspects to which we object and which we seek to amend. I will start with our two new clauses. New clause 3 aims to enshrine in law the policy changes that the Government agreed to implement on 21 May with regard to Gurkhas who had retired from the British army before 1997. The Government have agreed to this and, as I understand it, have implemented the policy change announced in the Home Secretary's statement of 21 May. The reason that the new clause is still necessary is that the policy change amends only the guidance used to implement the immigration rules. Guidance, as we know, is not legally binding. It is subject to the discretion of civil servants who are not bound to follow it, and it can be amended at the whim of this or any subsequent Executive. That is simply not good enough. We need something more solid and less transient. Amendment 40 addresses the issue of asylum seekers and their qualifying period for citizenship. As things stand, many asylum seekers face long waits to have their cases resolved. The delay in dealing with their cases is not their fault; it is the Government's fault, and the Government should make concessions to rectify this, rather than penalising them for problems of the Government's own making.