Clause 2 - Entering United Kingdom without passport
Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill
10:30 am
Mrs Angela Watkinson (Upminster, Conservative)
The clause is intended to include people who arrive by sea. We heard evidence from the hon. Member for Dover that there are people who destroy documents on arrival, but there is also the very big problem of people arriving without documents, having stowed away in the backs of lorries. A big challenge in dealing with asylum and immigration is the huge volume of people to deal with. Would it not be better if that category of people were prevented from even embarking on to ferries by the more efficient checking of lorries for stowaways at Calais? I understand that only 12 per cent. of lorries are checked for stowaways. Checking 100 per cent. of lorries would be an obvious way to reduce the number of people who need to be dealt with when they arrive at Dover.