Member

Amendment 51, in our view, undermines the principle of Clause 15, which sets out which items are excluded from the definition of a “relevant article”. The items on that list include food, drink, medical products and bedding, and they are obviously excluded from the definition on the basis that such articles are essential to supporting life. We on these Benches struggle to understand why a mobile phone should be included on such a list when mobile phones are, quite obviously, frequently used to facilitate the crime of entering the UK illegally. It appears to us that the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, is seeking to apply an exclusion to an article that is absolutely not necessary for supporting life but is one of the central tools in allowing these crimes to take place. Indeed, the entire purpose of these powers is to ensure that law enforcement officers have sufficient power to tackle the gangs. To remove mobile phones from these powers of search and seizure would completely undermine them and severely hinder our ability to protect our borders.