Member

To be clear, the amendment intends to remove Section 12 of the IMA, which enables the Home Secretary to decide the reasonableness of length of immigration detention. That, in turn, overturned common-law principles, as was made clear when we debated it in this House. The common-law principle provides for judicial oversight over length of detention as a safeguard against arbitrary detention. That is one of the bases on which the English and Welsh legal system stands. It also gives the power to the Home Secretary to continue to detain someone after the reason for their detention ceases.