I thank both noble Lords for their welcome of the government Amendment. The fact is that we want nationals to be able to move freely; we do not believe that there will be a considerable impact, but if something unexpected were to happen, we have to have the ability to act quickly.

The noble Lord, Lord Howell, asked whether I had met the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Dahrendorf. The answer is yes. When the noble Lord, Lord Dahrendorf, said that he wanted affirmative procedures, the Government felt that it was appropriate to have those procedures initially but that we might find it more appropriate to have negative procedures should we need to reimpose any restrictions. The noble Lord, Lord Dahrendorf, believed that that would represent a loss of parliamentary control, and it was he who suggested the so-called delayed affirmative procedure. The Government accepted the suggestion made by the noble Lord, as the chair of the committee.

I take the liberty of telling your Lordships that I have spoken to the noble Lord, Lord Dahrendorf, on the matter. Although he was unable to speak on behalf of his whole committee, on an individual basis he believed that the Government had met the points that he raised. Of course, he has not been able to consult his committee on the matter.

The noble Lord, Lord Howell, wanted to know in what circumstances the problems we are discussing might occur, and raised a point about monitoring. Research suggests that it is very unlikely that there will be a large-scale influx following enlargement. The establishment of new formal mechanisms to monitor the labour market is probably disproportionate; instead, it is proposed to make use of existing sources of data and information, and to use largely informal mechanisms to consult stakeholders inside and outside government.

I understand that the Department for Work and Pensions will continuously monitor a range of existing statistics of labour market performance—of GDP, numbers claiming benefits and other such relevant material—which would indicate a possible disturbance to the UK labour market that might be sufficient to justify considering reintroducing restrictions. I hope that that answers the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Howell. If there were a real disturbance in our labour market, we would monitor it through those mechanisms and we would hope to track it in that way. If necessary, we would then be able to use the suggestion of the delayed affirmative procedure.

I do not have any specific examples for the noble Lord. I hope that he will forgive me, but specific examples might be taken to represent a definitive list, whereas I hope that the indications that I have given are sufficiently broad and flexible to meet the exigencies that might arise. I hope that the House agrees that the Government have done their best to meet the points made by your Lordships' committee, and that the amendment will be acceptable to your Lordships.