Briefing on Government Amendment 40 to Clause 43 (conditions on limited leave to enter or remain)

Clause 43 was introduced in Committee in the House of Commons. It is an especially bad provision for extending Home Office power far further than is proper or necessary and in a way that fundamentally undermines the basis of the UK's immigration system. In essence, it transfers to immigration officers counter-terror-like powers to severely restrict freedom of movement within the UK; and makes any and every migrant to the UK, other than those who have been permitted to settle permanently, potentially liable to those powers.

Government Amendment 40 will place some constraint on Clause 43 relating to where the Home Office consider someone to pose some sort of safety threat or to have at some point committed one of several listed criminal offences. However, this is far from adequate.

This briefing explains the inadequacy of Amendment 40 as a cure for the fundamental error at the heart of Clause 43, which should instead be removed from the Bill.