EEA Nationals (Indefinite Leave to Remain) Bill [HL]

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords
Friday 19th July 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I welcome the Bill proposed today by the noble Lord, Lord Oates. I also agree with the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, that this could have been fast-tracked through this House as other legislation has been and it is shameful that we have not made that generous offer that so many of us talked about in this debate. We live in hope that the new Prime Minister will listen to this debate and act swiftly in the next couple of weeks.

The noble Lord sent his best wishes to my noble friend Lady Hayter, who I count not just as my noble friend but as a dear friend. I first met my noble friend Lady Hayter in the early 1980s, when we were both active in the Labour Party in London. She has had a distinguished career outside this House—a considerable amount of it in and around the labour movement, including working in Europe for many years and as general secretary of the Fabian Society. I also worked closely with my noble friend when she served on the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party and as chair of the Labour Party, which she was very proud to be. At that time, I was the director of finance for the Labour Party and part of the senior management team. Towards the end of Governments, they become unpopular, money gets tight and the party membership goes down. My noble friend and other colleagues in my team worked to ensure that we got through some very difficult days, making sure that the party continued to function properly. The party owes my noble friend a great debt of gratitude for all she has done.

My noble friend is also one of a small group of Labour and Co-op Members of the House of Lords—about 18 of us. I do not know whether noble Lords know this, but the whole leadership of the Labour group here is all Labour and Co-op—the Opposition Leader, the Opposition Chief Whip and the deputy are all Labour and Co-op. The Co-op Party is very proud that the leadership of the Labour Peers are all Labour and Co-op. I am delighted that she remains Deputy Leader of our group. She was re-elected unanimously only last month and I wish her a speedy return to the Front Bench, where she enjoys the support not just of our party but of noble Lords across the House. I am delighted to be here today but I am not looking for any more jobs on this side. The worst day was when there were three government Statements from three Ministers and it was always me responding. I said, “Carry on, it’s me again”. I have more than enough jobs on this side of the House and I look forward to my noble friend being back soon.

I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, that it is likely that this measure will get only this far in parliamentary proceedings. We will have the new Prime Minister next week and we are already hearing reports of a Queen’s Speech and attempts to shut Parliament down, so I fear that the Bill make no more progress. That is regrettable. The Bill has much merit and should be supported.

I think we would also agree that, no matter which way one voted, Brexit has been a total car crash—a shambles in terms of delivery from day one. It does not matter how you voted; it is an utter shambles. I have lost count of the number of ministerial resignations that can be attributed to Brexit—there was apparently another a couple of days ago. They just come and go now and hardly get reported in the media. It used to be a matter of news on the BBC that a Minister had gone but that does not seem to happen any more. We have been left a laughing stock around the world.

The Bill is simple and straightforward and provides for EEA nationals who are resident along with their families on the date of exit of the EU the right of abode here in the UK. It is important that the noble Lord, Lord Oates, reminded us of the pledge made by Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Priti Patel, and his Bill simply enables them to honour the pledge they made. I also associate myself with the comments of the noble Baroness, Lady Altmann. It is a question of honour and of trust. It is a question of behaving properly and of our standing in the world. I also associate my comments with those of the noble Earl, Lord Attlee, as I do with those of every other speaker in today’s debate.

The Government have their scheme, which is better than when it started out although not by much. I welcome the decision to scrap the fee, taken a few months ago. But as the noble Earl said, the scheme has many flaws and risks seeing many people left in a precarious position. The noble Earl set out those flaws. I understand that the right of abode is different from settled status and indefinite leave to remain, but my biggest concern is the risk that we could have another Windrush-type scandal at some point in the future. I am sure the Minister will tell us that that will not happen and we should not worry: it will all be fine. But none of us can predict the future. All we can do is look at the past and the record, as a pointer of future outcomes. If we do that, the prognosis is not good.

The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Rochester was right when he said that the Bill has fairness and simplicity at its heart. I am the son of immigrants. My parents are both Irish and came here to find work in the 1950s. I know that Irish people have a different status from other European nationals in this country, but they are immigrants. I am the eldest son of immigrants. I was struck by the point that the right reverend Prelate made about the Catholic community. I went to Catholic school—primary school in Camberwell and secondary school in Peckham. The parents of the children there were Irish, Italian, Spanish or West Indian and there were a few Africans. I remember the names—the Giuseppes, Luigis, Patricks and Paddys and all sorts of names, but not many English names. That is what we were. I remember Marys, Siobhans and Margarets from junior school. That illustrates the right reverend Prelate’s point. All these people came here to find work and made contributions to our country, and they were welcomed.

My mum was a nurse for many years and my dad became a black cab driver. My mum ended her working career in the Members’ Tea Room in the House of Commons for many years, serving cups of tea to many Members of this House who were at one time in the other place. Immigrants come to countries and make a fantastic contribution and we have not made them feel very welcome in recent years. That is very regrettable.

I thank the noble Lord for bringing this Bill back to the House today. It is ridiculous that we have waited two years for it. That highlights to me that we must deal with Private Members’ Bills better in this House. We have some wonderful Bills that receive Second Readings and then we are told that they will be committed to a Committee of the whole House. But they could go into Grand Committee. We could have a Grand Committee sitting today to consider other Bills, but we cannot do that. It is ridiculous, and we need the Government to think about that. If we are to have 40, 50 or 60 Private Members’ Bills, the House should facilitate that and make more progress. I hope that when we get the new Government, they will do that.

I thank the noble Lord for bringing the Bill forward and I look forward to it making progress, but I am afraid I am rather sceptical that it will.