I feel a heavy weight on my shoulders, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am grateful for your indulgence.
I have expressed concern on a number of occasions about the integrity and comprehensibility of our statute book. The Minister said earlier that the reason that we could not use the existing wording in section 39 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 was that it was “all bound up with the earned citizenship measures”. The Government have said that they will not proceed with the implementation of the earned citizenship provisions, so they will have to legislate separately. If the Government do not wish to proceed with the earned citizenship provisions in the 2009 Act, surely those provisions should be repealed, rather than being left in limbo. If they are left in limbo, it will be open to a subsequent Government to commence them.
I hope that my hon. Friend the Member for Woking (Jonathan Lord) will be able to deal with this matter during the later stages of his Bill. The Bill seems to be amending section 39 of the 2009 Act, rather than repealing it, thereby compounding the felony of making the statute book even more difficult to comprehend. I do not expect my hon. Friend the Minister to respond to this point now, but at some stage during the Bill’s progress, we need to work out why we are keeping on the statute book provisions that the Government say they oppose. Why will the Government not repeal them? Why are they seeking to amend a section of the 2009 Act that they do not wish to implement? Would it not be better to legislate de novo?
Those are the short points that I wanted to make, and I am grateful to you for allowing me to do so, Madam Deputy Speaker.
1.29 pm