Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 9 April 2001.
In the negotiations on replacing the Dublin convention, does my right hon. Friend recognise that there is a danger that agreement will be reached by sinking to the lowest common denominator? In that context, we might think twice about exporting the voucher system to the rest of Europe. What steps are being taken to try to influence the process, given that we are not, as a result of the Amsterdam treaty, fully signed up to a common system across Europe?