My Lords, the House will forgive me for not namechecking individual noble Lords. I have heard it said a number of times of the Bill that “This is not who we are as a nation”. This is also not how I used to think of the Conservative Party; I rarely agreed with it, but I respected it. I look to the Government to lead, not to stoke up both prejudice and fear. These are human beings who, in very large part, are fleeing conflict, torture, persecution and danger. They are human beings as we are, but I see no attempt to walk in their shoes and see each as an individual with his own character and history, or to see each child as a child—many of them vulnerable.
The Minister wrote to Peers, saying:
“As you will know, over 45,000 people illegally crossed the Channel in small boats last year, abusing our laws and asylum protections”.
No, I do not know that 45,000 people did that, but I do know that this is victim blaming. I acknowledge Refugees Welcome and other support groups and individuals, who see asylum seekers as people in need of support.
I know that the Bill is immoral, although it is presented as moral: “We must save people from the dangers of the channel”. Of course, but even if it will, what about
the dangers from which asylum seekers are escaping? The very presentation of some so-called safe countries, designated in the Bill as safe for men or women only, indicates that the Government know the human rights problems, but there are no nuances or caveats. Safe and legal routes are not irrelevant, as suggested; they should be the precursor to legislation.
The Bill is misconceived. It will not act as a deterrent to asylum seekers, so it will not deter the traffickers. It will create a new market for smugglers among people removed to countries which are not appropriate.
The Modern Slavery Act should be strengthened, not weakened. In January, changes were introduced to address false slavery claims by bringing into force the Nationality and Borders Act, but it is far too soon to assess those changes. Allowing a victim to remain in the UK just so long as is necessary for a prosecution says a good deal about the Government’s refusal, against professional opinion, to understand that few victims are able to produce a complete statement without considerable support and often over a long period. How is that trauma-informed?
Noble Lords have spoken of giving traffickers another tool; they will be able to say, “Go to the police and you’ll be removed from the UK”. Why cast asylum seekers as the wrongdoers? Overstayers, who had visas, know they have no right to be here; they outnumber asylum seekers by many times. Of course, we have heard a lot about total migration numbers. I am grateful for the mention of the report by the Select Committee, which I am lucky enough to chair, on the way the Government should go on immigration.
The Government used to be good at soft power. What a clever strategy: to seek to load things on our nearest European neighbours. This refusal to acknowledge the global situation and to address what might truly be a fair share is the very opposite of seeking global co-operation. It is more than a closed door; it is drawing up the portcullis.
There is deep concern about the impacts on the land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland; it is not apparent that the Government considered or consulted on that. In addition, how is the Bill perceived by minority communities in the UK? Let us not forget community cohesion and integration. It is clear that the benefits of diversity passed the Government by.
The Bill is illegal, and the House will, as always, be glad of its lawyers. Let us take its retrospective effect. Legal certainty requires clarity at the relevant time—which is not, in this case, 7 March 2023, with Parliament being taken for granted at that point. It is a central tenet of the rule of law. The Court of Appeal called it
“a requirement of good administration, by which public bodies ought to deal straightforwardly and consistently with the public”.
The Minister says that the Section 19 position is “legally untested”. I thought the Government were critical of people running off to the courts to test legality, and of the courts treading where the Government think they should not.
I confess that there is a good deal about the Bill that puzzles me: that there is a reliance on a writ of habeas corpus, which is about the lawfulness of detention, when the legislation makes the detention legal; and
that the party that claimed to be good housekeepers does not focus first on the efficiency of the Home Office. Detention is used as instant punishment before any infringement is established. Legal avenues are blocked, and the courts are blocked from getting on with their job to a proper timetable. What happened to necessity and proportionality?
I could almost say, “Thank goodness the Bill will be unworkable” but for what it will mean for so many children and adults. It is not even as good as having a life on hold; they are driven towards exploitation, not protected from it, and driven to the underground economy. How much will we know of that? Presumably the numbers will not appear in the Home Office applications backlog, because the claims will be inadmissible and so not counted. It is immoral, misconceived and illegal.
Obviously, it is not possible to cover in a few minutes every point made, as the many organisations which have briefed us so extensively—and to which we will continue to look during later stages—will realise. A fundamentally unacceptable Bill does not become acceptable by amending it at the edges.
The Parliament Act is a red herring. Even if there were time to ram the same Bill through—it is not that straight- forward—there would be no time for implementation before the next election. To those who say that opponents of the Bill should be setting out their policy, I am sure that they would have said, in response to speeches setting out that policy, that this was not the time, especially given the Bill’s Short and Long Titles.
By the way, our policy is not to admit everyone. Like the most reverend Primate, my noble friend did not say we would.
Finally, perhaps the most egregious aspect of the Bill is that it deprives people of hope, and hope is so precious. My own default mode is to look for compromise and consensus, but I cannot do so here. I feel contaminated by the Bill.
9.40 pm