---

Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

I support the Liberal Democrat amendment which is far more positive than the amendment proposed by the Conservative Party. Our amendment states that the primary function should be, "““protecting UK borders””." That, above everything else, should have first place in a list of functions. The Conservative amendment contains a lucky dip of the various functions that might be attributed to the border force, so let us adopt the positive, reasonable and rational development contained in the Liberal Democrat amendment. Subsection (2)(d) of our amendment requires that the border force should have the function of, "““maintaining and improving a safe, ordered and secure environment in ports””." That is not in the Conservative amendment, but it deserves its place in the Bill. According to the Conservative amendment, the first function of the border force should be, "““detecting and removing illegal overstayers””." Surely that is a kind of tabloid headline function to ““send them all home””. But that is not what the Bill is about. We need a civilised approach to a difficult problem and I suggest that the Liberal Democrat amendment is superior in its approach and presentation to that contained in the amendment proposed by the Official Opposition.