Clause 2 - Entering United Kingdom without passport

Part of Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 11:15 am on 13 January 2004.

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Photo of David Heath David Heath Shadow Spokesperson (Home Affairs) 11:15, 13 January 2004

I thank the Minister for both the content and the tenor of her reply. I do not think that she properly addressed the point made by the hon. Member for Perth (Annabelle Ewing), but it came slightly from the blind side, as Scottish law so often does. The way in which, in the circumstances, someone might be prosecuted in a Scottish court and what might apply would repay closer examination, but that is homework for another day.

I am at least partially reassured by what the Minister told me about the procedures that are in place. I still hold to the view that if we are to expand the role of immigration officers as proposed, it will eventually be more sensible for them to be sworn officers, with clear safeguards in respect of their conduct, than to continue to take what has become an incremental approach to providing them with the wherewithal to take on such a role. That said, I am grateful for her reply and I look forward to her writing to me with further and better particulars of the complaints procedure. We must all do our homework on the application of the proposals in Scotland. With that, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.