Sir Alan Campbell

I am sure the House will not have missed the hon. Gentleman’s opening comments when he talked about his party’s “positions” on Europe—it is not unusual for the Lib Dems to have many positions on many things. I am sure he enjoyed his conference, not least because he probably got more sleep than he might have done with a young child at home, but there we are. The difference between our conference and his is that the leader of our party came out strengthened from our conference; I am not sure the Lib Dems can say the same. On the serious matter that the hon. Gentleman raises, we have granted over 230,000 visas under the British national overseas visa route, and we are honouring our commitment to support Hongkongers facing political pressure. We remain committed to supporting Hong Kong residents and welcoming eligible applications under the scheme. Every application involving a prior conviction is assessed individually on its merits. We are ensuring that actions that are not considered criminal offences under UK law do not bar applicants from safety, but I give him my word that I will go back to the Home Office, and if that needs to be clarified, I will draw that to its attention