We must be clear about the terminology that is used and the difference between a refugee and an asylum seeker. That is important. I am very keen to give the right to vote to everybody to whom we can give it who is normally resident in Scotland. That is the qualification, and it is a very wide qualification. Very few countries in the world provide that width of definition.
I want to make it clear that there is a difference between refugees and asylum seekers. “Asylum seeker” has come to mean a person who is seeking refugee status and whom the Government has not yet recognised as a refugee under the 1951 United Nations refugee convention.
Under the immigration rules, the secretary of state will issue a residence permit or humanitarian protection to a person who is granted refugee status, and their family members, as soon as possible after the grant of status, and it may be valid for five years—there are a lot of conditions.
The difference is that an asylum seeker will not have that right to remain as yet, and so is not a resident. I am not interested in the issue of permanent residents. People move from place to place, and people who are not permanently resident have certain opportunities to register to vote. However, there is a difference in the definition. In electoral terms, it would be extremely difficult to grant the right to vote to people who have no right to be here. Once the person has been granted refugee status—and that is nothing to do with citizenship—that right is given.
I accept that there is an anomaly in the bill around standing for election, and I want to clear that up during the bill process. We will undoubtedly discuss how we do that at some stage.
There is a difference between refugee status and asylum status. We are absolutely determined that the bill will be as wide as it possibly can be but, even then, there has to be a limit, and that limit is the right to remain.
If I may speculate about an independent Scotland, which some people around this table would welcome and some would not, it might be possible to find a link between Scotland as a state giving that right and the right to vote. It might happen more quickly. There might be a wider definition. However, working within the current system, the distinction between the two statuses is important.