§ 12.43 a.m.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Merlyn Rees)I beg to move Amendment No. 1, in page 2, line 28, leave out 'of a kind' and insert:
'restricting the period for which he may remain in the United Kingdom to less than seven or such other number of days as may be'.I hope that my views on this Amendment and those that follow will continue the tone of the Committee upstairs, in other words, that in general they will be non-controversial.The Government accept the recommendation of the Wilson Committee on this matter, and the Home Secretary intended, under subsection (1)(a), to make an Order which would afford an appeal against any condition which required a Commonwealth citizen to leave the United Kingdom in less than seven days, leaving any passenger admitted for a longer period to apply after entry for an extension of stay and to appeal if the extension were refused. The type of condition against which an immediate appeal would lie was left to be prescribed by Statutory Instrument, because experience might show that seven days was not the right limit for the purpose, and that a shorter or longer period ought to be substituted.
In discussion in Committee, the hon. Member for Colchester (Mr. Buck) expressed the view that it ought to be made clear on the face of the Clause in what circumstances appeal would be available against the imposition of a condition of admission, and the Amendment meets that point. It makes it clear on the face of the Clause that an immediate appeal will lie against the imposition of a condition only if it is 689 one restricting the stay to less than a given number of days, and that this number will at the outset be seven. At the same time, the Amendment preserves a measure of flexibility to enable the Home Secretary to alter this number if an alteration seems justified in the light of experience.
§ 12.45 a.m.
§ Mr. Antony Buck (Colchester)I am obliged to the Under-Secretary for having moved the Amendment, which meets the point which I raised and which was taken up by my hon. Friend in Committee, as reported in column 38 of the OFFICIAL REPORT of the Standing Committee proceedings. In our view, the Amendment is an improvement. It meets the point which was so fully argued in Committee and in the circumstances it would not be to anybody's advantage if at this late hour I wearied the House by deploying all the basic arguments behind it.
§ Amendment agreed to.