My Lords, I hope that I am not unduly suspicious, but I rather think there is something in the Opposition Motion that is not entirely to do with the cap, but tries to embarrass the coalition. Perhaps I am just a Welshman who should not be thinking that way, but I am afraid that that might be the case.

I look back at the record of the previous Government and I see that new immigration Acts were introduced in 1997, 2002, 2004 and 2006. Another consolidated Bill was on the way and was mooted to contain more than 800 clauses. We never came to it because the General Election beat us to it. Each Act was harsher and less liberal than the one before it.

I know from personal experience how we tried to amend the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill in 2004-especially Clause 9, which sought to make failed asylum seekers absolutely destitute by withdrawing all their benefits and facilities. We on the Liberal Democrat Benches tried to get rid of that clause, but we failed. The Labour Government would not give way. That was the case throughout the previous Parliament.

We remember the campaign to end the detention of children for immigration purposes, but the Labour Government would not budge. It took the new coalition to take the initiative there. I am afraid that only one voice supported the continuation of detention-a highly regarded former Labour Minister. When the 2006 Bill was going through the House, I tried to get the Government to provide information packs for migrants to inform them of the challenges and concerns they might have on reaching the United Kingdom. The Labour Government refused to provide the packs. I also questioned the delays in the provision of visas for children's choirs from Kampala. There was delay after delay until finally, two days before they were due to leave, the visas came through.

Then there was the charge. I was concerned with music festivals. At the time there was a fee of £67 per member of every choir and dance group. That came as a tremendous blow, especially to those poorer countries that were struggling to pay for their visit to the Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod-but the Government would not budge.

Some noble Lords will remember the struggle to prevent the forced removal of gay youngsters to Iran, where they could well have faced execution. It took 80 Cross-Benchers and Liberal Democrats signing a petition to the then Home Secretary to save their lives and set a new principle for these deportations. We remember also the struggle that we had time after time over forced deportations to Darfur, Zimbabwe and the Congo. It really was difficult to get the Government to move on this.

I have one more quotation. When the five-tier points system was introduced by the previous Government, the BBC reported:

"All applicants will have to pass an English test-unless they have £1 million or more to invest".

This was ridiculous. The report continued by stating that even,

"someone applying for entry from a poor country, such as Nigeria or Afghanistan, will have to prove annual earnings of at least £4,000".

Their average annual income is a tenth of this, at most. Therefore, when the Labour Opposition propose something that would restrict a cap of sorts, we should remember that we have had financial and other caps from them over the years. I regard the opposition Motion as totally irrelevant, and one that the Labour Opposition will possibly not press to a vote.