I thank the noble Lord, Lord Paddick, and the noble and learned Lord, Lord Etherton, for their contributions to the debate. I also thank the Minister for her response. I appreciate that there are two amendments down: one takes the clause out and the other seeks to amend the clause to provide for safe return agreements to be put in place. I appreciate that other noble Lords can ask for a vote, but I will not be seeking a vote on taking the clause out. Instead, I intend to seek a vote on the amendment we have put down.
4.15 pm
I appreciate what the Minister has said about Clause 15 and the arguments she has made as to why it should remain in the Bill. I will, however, come back to the
issue of return agreements, which is essentially what our amendment seeks to address. Those safe return agreements must be in place before Clause 15 is brought into effect. There was no argument from the Government about this in Committee. I appreciate that the Minister was speaking on behalf of the Government, but what she said was:
“I am not disagreeing with the need to have formal arrangements in place to return people. On that we are at one.”
She then said:
“I think it is both. We need to assess people on a case-by-case basis and we need to have return agreements in place.”
Subsequently, she said:
“I do not accept that Clause 15 is meaningless. I am agreeing that we need to have return agreements in place. I do not think anyone would disagree with that point.”—[Official Report, 3/2/22; col. 1104.]
This is all that my amendment is seeking to say. Before you bring it into effect, have these safe return agreements in place in respect of one or more states. So clearly I will have to put my amendment to a vote, since I am not confident the Government actually agree with it, despite what they said in Committee. All my amendment is seeking to do is put on the face of the Bill what, as far as I am concerned, the Government were agreeing with in Committee.
I have made clear what my intentions are, and I will not be seeking to put the stand part Motion to the test. However, when reference is made to Amendment 32, I will be seeking a vote on that.