Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

I move amendment No. 3:

In page 6, line 14, after "Slovak Republic" to insert "and any other state which, after the passing of this Act, becomes party to an instrument whereby it accedes to membership of the European Union".

I have reintroduced the amendment because I still believe it would be better to have a framework under which citizens of future accession countries would be allowed to work here without a work permit and without the need for new legislation to be introduced beforehand. It would be much better if we had an overall framework and comprehensive legislation on this issue. Our approach in the Bill and on the wider issue of immigration is too reliant on crisis management. We need a much more comprehensive framework for our immigration and work permit laws. We also need to be much more confident and less ambiguous about what we want in this regard. The refusal of the Government to accept the amendment shows it has mixed feelings about accession and the Nice treaty it promoted.