Member

The amendments put forward by the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, are perfectly reasonable things to do, but my main concern is this. We can have a commander of this and a commander of that, for £150 million or £450 million, but the people who are responsible for setting the national strategic objectives are Ministers of the Crown, not commanders. It is Ministers who set these. That is what they are elected for and that is where the responsibility ultimately lies. A commander will operate within a strategic framework established by Ministers. I am just a bit concerned that we are back at the game of “We’ll get somebody in to head it up, and do this, that and the other”. The reality is that no commander is going to be able to do anything unless the Government of the day set strategic objectives. The uncomfortable reality is that, while we all abhor the gangs, the people smugglers and the exploiters, we have not provided a disincentive for people to find an irregular or illegal route into this country. We are actually just not doing it.