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Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill
4:45 pm
Mr Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight, Conservative)
The immortal Flanders and Swann said, perhaps of Welsh rugby at the time when they used to win the triple crown,
''And they practise beforehand which ruins the fun!''
My hon. Friend has done the Committee a great service by researching before he speaks. He has dealt with a number of issues that go back into the realms of jurisprudential history but are of great value. I wish the Minister could have been as effective in justifying what he was saying.
The hon. Member for Winchester criticised the Government's approach to the clause and, in particular, their anticipated approach to this group of amendments, as being an overreaction to tabloid headlines. I disagree. I believe that the Government's approach is an appropriately measured reaction to public concern. The difficulty is that they are aiming at the wrong target. For that reason I will support the amendments if called upon to do so.
Anyone who reads my speech on Second Reading will realise that I started sympathetic to the Government's concern about delays in the judicial and tribunal system and the sort of bouncing ball effect with which we are all familiar. Then I heard the figures—my hon. Friend the Member for Woking quoted some of them earlier today and quoted others on previous occasions—which show the relatively low number of cases that get to the higher courts.