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Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

In the unavoidable absence of my noble friend Lady Hanham, I hope that the noble Lord will not object if I briefly comment on these amendments. We accept that these amendments, which the Government made in another place, clarify the extent of the customs functions that may be exercised by the Secretary of State and the Director of Border Revenue. This, as the noble Lord will remember, was the subject of much debate in this House earlier this year, and these amendments appear to go some way towards making sure that the remit of the UK Border Agency in respect of the exercise of its new customs functions is clear. However, we on this side believe that there is still not enough coherence between the many agencies that currently operate at our borders. The Government appear to be inching towards where it should be—that is, recognising that we need a unified border police force. At this stage, however, I do not wish to reopen debates that we had at another stage. I limit my remarks merely to accepting this group of clarifying amendments.