Written evidence to be reported to the House
UK Borders Bill
11:18 am
Mr. Byrne: Absolutely. I want to explain the context of the Bill. At 10 o’clock this morning, we announced that we had hit the Prime Minister’s tipping point on asylum and that we had removed more failed asylum seekers than came in during the year. The point about this Bill is that the Government’s ambition is to go further than simply tackling asylum abuse, which is one of the subjects of the Bill, towards tackling illegal immigration in the round. That is why we have set out five key steps this year of which this Bill is part. They deal with the extra powers for our immigration front line to tackle illegal immigration.
There are three key themes that run throughout this Bill. First, stronger powers to strengthen our border controls. Secondly, a range of extra powers to tackle illegal immigration and the causes of illegal immigration. Thirdly, new powers to secure much more effective identity management in the future, because we know that one of the great enablers of illegal immigration is the power to impersonate somebody else or to destroy one’s own identity.
I hope that is helpful by way of introduction to the context of the UK Borders Bill.