Clause 51
Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [Lords]
11:15 am
Phil Woolas (Minister of State (the North West), Home Office; Oldham East and Saddleworth, Labour)
Thank you, Sir Nicholas. I would have opposed it, had it been, for consistency reasons.
The world is very different from the place it was when the common travel area came into existence. There is much more travel, and it is faster and relatively cheaper for those who make journeys. Because that is the case for legal journeys, it is also true for illegal journeys, whether they involve illegal migrants and/or those who are engaged in criminal activity. The common travel area that defines the border controls or lack thereof, is by its nature presenting a risk to border control. It is being exploited by illegal immigrants and serious organised crime to assist their criminal activity. We saw that in the press very recently, when an investigation by the French immigration forces exposed a criminal gang that was bringing people in club class from Paris to the United Kingdom, via Ireland. That took advantage of the common travel area. Our evidence is that there are some 8,000 immigration offenders travelling each year between the Republic of Ireland and the UK on air and sea routes alone.