I agree with the hon. Gentleman's last remark. The principle of the Dublin convention is that asylum seekers' applications should be processed in the first EU country in which they set foot. The difficulty is the way in which the convention has been constructed, and the repeated problems that we have faced over, for example, decisions by our higher courts to classify France and Germany as unsafe third countries, a view with which I respectfully disagree.

As the hon. Gentleman knows, we inherited the Dublin convention. It was signed in 1990 and did not come into force until October 1997. We have been working hard—I have taken the lead in Europe—to propose changes to it. We have doubled the number of removals over the past four years, but one of the major problems in that context is the convention and the way in which our courts have sought to interpret it. That is why we are engaged in further detailed discussions within the Commission to try to change its wording.