Ascension Island

Part of the debate – in Westminster Hall at 10:34 am on 15 February 2006.

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Photo of Douglas Alexander Douglas Alexander Minister of State (Europe) 10:34, 15 February 2006

I am respectful of the past professional experience of a chartered surveyor, but I speak with the past experience of a solicitor, and a very clear distinction can be drawn between confusion and expectation. I have been scrupulous in my language today, making it clear that there may have been confusion. We accept that there may have been confusion, but that is an entirely separate matter. I make that observation not least in terms of the importance in public law of expectation. It is helpful to have clarified that point, but I would draw a clear distinction between expectation and confusion.

Reluctantly, the Government have concluded that granting the general right to remain could cost the UK taxpayer considerably, in the short and long terms. If the users were not on the island to provide a regular income for employees, the cost of meeting Ascension's reasonable ongoing needs—the provision and maintenance of utilities and infrastructure, and the provision of social and additional education and medical services—could easily run, on the Government's estimate, to tens of millions of pounds.