New Clause 10 - Fingerprinting
Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill
3:00 pm
Cheryl Gillan (Shadow Minister, (Assisted By Shadow Law Officers); Chesham and Amersham, Conservative)
Further to that point of order, Sir Nicholas. I wish to bring up the rear by associating myself with the remarks that have been made by my hon. Friend the Member for Woking, with the exception of those that he made about myself. I, too, wish to thank both Ministers for the way in which they have conducted the proceedings on the Bill. Last night in the Smoking Room, I said to the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality who has led on the Bill that I was impressed by his command of the brief. I now put that on the record. It is important to do so, even if we have differences of opinion. It is a pleasure to listen to Ministers who seem to understand what they are talking about rather than always hearing them reading out the words of support that have been written by their admirable officials.
I also pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Woking. He has been serving on two Standing Committees at the same time. He has put in a formidable performance. Given his work in the other proceedings, as well as his contributions to this Committee, it would be remiss if I sat down without acknowledging that phenomenal effort. These proceedings are very much the unsung part of our work in this place, but they are so important.
I want to acknowledge, in particular, members of organisations and those individuals who have briefed us. They have been thorough and have worked extremely hard. I hope that they consider that we have done justice to their views. Even though they may not be the views that we personally hold, I hope that we have at least given them a suitable airing. We look forward to further briefings for our debates on Report and Third Reading, stages that are still important.
Lastly, I wish to acknowledge that what we have been doing in Committee will affect many people during the years to come, not only visitors to this country, but people who work on our behalf and who will be enforcing what will eventually become law throughout our ports and at our borders. I say a big “thank you” to those immigration officers and staff who help to keep this country safe. Even though we might not agree entirely with the details of the Bill when it reaches the statute book, we hope that, in whatever form the Act finally appears, it will help them to do their job better to defend this country and its people.