Member

Amendment 56 risks creating a loophole in which we could see the provision, and the principle and intention behind it, abused to allow those who should be prosecuted to raise a defence. There are issues around the definition of a close family member, but, more importantly, it would create an administrative burden to facilitate this in practice. It is hard enough to identify each individual person arriving in the UK illegally, let alone establishing who is related to whom and to what degree. In the meantime, those who claimed under this amendment would be accommodated at the taxpayer’s expense—which is not, as the Government have made clear, a responsible use of taxpayer money.