Part of UK Borders Bill – in a Public Bill Committee am 4:45 pm ar 20 Mawrth 2007.
I misspoke. I, too, meant to refer to the clause. Presumably, until that happens the protections afforded by the Bill will not be fully available to the people of England, Wales and Northern Ireland or, presumably, Scotland. As he said, he will depend on the good will of the Scottish Executive after the Scottish elections to agree to the things that the current Labour-led Scottish Executive has failed to agree to. I find that position, as I have done throughout, a slightly unusual one for a Government to find themselves in. However, many of the provisions of the Bill are useful, so I hope that, whatever the make-up of the Scottish Executive after the Scottish elections, Ministers will find that their powers of persuasion are more effective with the new Executive than they appear to be with the current one.