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Immigration

Yes I do, and if the right hon. Gentleman had been listening he would know that I made that point quite explicitly at the start of my speech. I said that Governments have responsibility to protect our immigration system. It is late at night and I am happy to make things clear for him. In the explanatory notes to the statement of changes, the Government say:"““Where migrants have left the UK at public expense, we will also require them to repay the cost of their departure, once we have introduced primary legislation that allows us to do so.””" Will the Minister tell the House when the Government intend to introduce those proposals? Having removed someone from the country, how do the Government propose to recover that payment? What discussions have they had with foreign Governments about their co-operation in recovering costs from their own nationals? On the surface, the Government's aim of recovering costs from people who have already gone back to their own country looks extremely optimistic. I suspect that this part of the changes is somewhat unrealistic. Another issue, which the hon. Member for Eastleigh raised, is inadvertent mistakes. Clearly, nobody condones the intentional use of misleading or false information and those who use it should be subject to stringent penalties. We support the general approach that those who give false information should be refused entry, but will the Minister clarify what entry clearance officers will take the word ““false”” to mean? Does it mean intentionally false or inaccuracies of any kind? In short, does it involve active deceit? Is a mistake made in good faith also covered by these measures? The Minister will be aware that that issue was raised in another place by representatives of the universities. Perhaps students are particularly prone to making such mistakes, but whether they are or not, it is clear that full clarification will be important. It is also important to put these changes in the context of the wider weaknesses of the points-based system as it has been introduced by the Government. It is designed to do one job, which is to allow the economically beneficial to come to this country, but Ministers would like it to do another, which is to limit the numbers coming here. The scheme does not set limits of that sort and, as it is set up, it is not intended to do so. Ministers constantly argue that it is a system like Australia's, but they know that the Australian system is entirely different. It starts with a limit and selects within that total. Nor does the Government's points-based system prevent long-term settlement. By staying on for five years and making an application, all work permit holders will be qualified to apply for settlement in Britain and, later, for citizenship. That will apply whether or not their skills are needed beyond the short term. The result of those weaknesses in the system and the complete lack of public confidence in the Government's immigration record is that Ministers are at all times having to try to look as tough as possible. The result of that, as we see before us this evening, is too often self-defeating. We have seen that over the highly skilled migrants programme. The Minister will be aware of complaints from the restaurant sector and there are now complaints from those who employ seasonal workers. It is conceivable, indeed, that there might be objections from some people who are covered by the measure. The root of the problem is policy driven by rhetoric, which is never a happy prospect. I put it to the Minister that this is the day of the U-turn for the Government. I hope that he repeats the performance of the Chancellor this afternoon and introduces another set of U-turns and sensible concessions on this badly drafted measure.