Baroness Fookes
Main Page: Baroness Fookes (Conservative - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Baroness Fookes's debates with the Home Office
(4 weeks, 1 day ago)
Lords ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Lab)
My Lords, are we not seen as a soft touch by those who want to get into this country and as having little control over the number of people coming in? According to reports, there may be close on a million people who are not registered as British citizens. Should we not be exploring again the use of a modern identity system? The abolition of the ID cards by the coalition Government was a serious error. Is it not the case that we will have to return to it, and the sooner we look at that, the better?
Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)
I respect the question from my noble friend. I reassure him that this United Kingdom Labour Government are not a soft touch on migration to this country. We have invested in Border Force. We are investing in additional measures to prevent illegal entry and in a e-visa system which will allow people to come into this country through a controlled mechanism.
On the aspirations for an identity card, I was in the Home Office when we introduced the identity card. It went through the noble Baroness, Lady May, in her actions as Home Secretary. It is not likely to return soon.
The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Fookes) (Con)
My Lords, my apologies for inadvertently cutting off the Minister.