It is a great pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May). I thank her for highlighting the evidence that we heard this morning at the Home Affairs Committee on the issue of trafficking and modern slavery, and I again pay tribute to the work that she did on that pioneering piece of legislation in 2015.
I think the right hon. Lady is right that the Government do not fully understand the law in this area of modern slavery and trafficking. I support what she said about amendments 95 and 4. I noted that, at the start of proceedings, the Minister said that it is important that we get the Bill right, and it is absolutely important that we do so. As we enter this final stretch for the House to have the opportunity to debate and amend the Bill,
I wish again to express my concerns about the lack of an impact assessment for the Bill. The impact assessment is now seven weeks late, and it is wholly unacceptable that the House is being forced to pass this very significant legislation with no firm analysis on whether it will work or what the cost will be. According to the Refugee Council, the Bill could cost as much as £9 billion over the next three years.
I again refer to the Home Affairs Committee report on small boat crossings, in which we were very clear about the need for evidence-based policy making. It is regrettable that this Bill is being forced through at breakneck speed with no time for pre-legislative scrutiny. I know the Minister has had to table a lot of Government amendments to deal with issues that perhaps should have been thought through before, and we have heard that he will reconsider issues around modern slavery and trafficking as well.
4.15 pm
As I move on to the amendments tabled in my name, I want to raise two particular issues. The Home Affairs Committee, in the report I just referred to, made it very clear that international co-operation, respect and trust are essential to building a joint framework with other countries to tackle the problem of irregular migration. I am disturbed that the Government are hardening their stance on the ECHR and I strongly oppose the latest amendment on interim relief, new clause 26, which I believe will breach international obligations.
We have heard from two eminent lawyers in this Chamber, the hon. and learned Member for Edinburgh South West (Joanna Cherry) and the right hon. and learned Member for Torridge and West Devon (Sir Geoffrey Cox), who are united in what they think the new clause will do—indeed the latter, the former Attorney General, said that it was setting out legislation to allow the deliberate disobeying of our obligations.