§ Mr. Max Madden (Bradford, West)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I apologise for raising a point of order that I have raised over the last three days—the proposal of the Foreign Office to introduce a charge for entry certificates I felt that it might be helpful to raise this point of order since Foreign Office Ministers are in the Chamber. As I have explained over the last three days, the advice I have received has been contradictory and has varied over the last three days.
I am now advised that the Foreign Office proposes to secure a Privy Council order on Tuesday to implement charges for entry certificates, which is a matter of considerable anxiety to Commonwealth citizens and their families. I understand that the order is not subject to any parliamentary proceedings, but will be available for scrutiny by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments which, conveniently, meets next on Tuesday.
The proposal is widely thought to be unlawful, because a right conferred by statute would be diminished if a charge were introduced for entry clearance certificates. It is also widely held that an appeal in the courts against payment of a charge would be successful. Therefore, I am desperately trying to avoid the Foreign Office and Parliament being embarrassed.
Could you, Mr. Speaker, make representations to ensure that whatever procedure the Foreign Office pursues in this matter will be subject to parliamentary proceedings and will enable my colleagues who are very worried about the matter to have an opportunity to debate the issue before implementation of the proposal, which I understand is scheduled for 1 January?
I should also be grateful if we could be given advice by the Leader of the House or the Foreign Secretary about what procedures will be pursued and an assurance that whatever procedure is used will give us all an opportunity to debate the matter before a charge is introduced.
§ Mr. SpeakerI undertook to look into the matter and I am still doing so. In relation to what the hon. Gentleman has just said, I presume that the statutory instrument will be scrutinised by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments. The Leader of the House will have heard what the hon. Gentleman said. Patently, it is not a matter for me, but I fully accept that it is an important subject on which hon. Members hold strong views.