[Continuation from column 288]
Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill
5:30 pm
Mr David Lammy (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs; Tottenham, Labour)
I said earlier to the hon. Gentleman, and I say it again, I am not going to trade remarks about sections of Wade. I will put the Government position and explain why we are doing what we are doing. Important principles are involved, including the sovereignty of Parliament. Hon. Members will have heard in their constituencies stories of the relationship between certain claimants and certain groups of lawyers. The Government have acted, through better accreditation and through the Law Society, to deal with lawyers who are not as scrupulous as they should be. However, for a range of complex global reasons—among them the trafficking of people—people arrive here making claims that are not genuine. It is right that we should consider how we apply our processes to that situation; that is our responsibility to our constituents. Only this place can
act in that way. The sovereignty of Parliament is essential in that regard, as it is in relation to constitutional matters.