Member

Whether a Government are or are not co-operating is a discretionary judgment which needs to be taken by Ministers. The decision also needs to be made on a case-by-case basis, once it is understood whether visa penalties would be the most effective tool. As I said, visa penalties have not been used before, either by this Government or the last. In each case where their use has been considered, we have been able successfully to unblock co-operation through other means such as ministerial and senior official engagement. Further, the fact that visa penalties are available to the Home Secretary has helped to unblock unco-operation, even if they were not ultimately imposed. We believe that the provisions already provided for in the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 are sufficient for our primary aims.