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UK Borders Bill

The noble Lord is asking me to describe the basis of the original discrimination. We accept that that discrimination was there, which is why we made the changes. No doubt that is why the Conservative Party dealt with it in the way that it did back in 1983. It was accepted that that discrimination was there and that it needed to be corrected. In the end, it comes back to the point that the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, made originally, which is that the further back the cut-off point goes, the less likelihood there is that somebody will be caught and discriminated against. The noble Lord made the point that in all probability few people continue to be caught by this. The noble Lord, Lord Avebury, corrected what he thought I was saying at Question Time the other week, when I said that I thought there might be about 3,000. I am not sure that I put it in those terms, but I accept that the number is likely to be low. That is our case. I am sure that noble Lords will find plenty to disagree with. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, for raising this issue. No doubt he will withdraw his amendment today and consider coming back with it at a later date.