To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to join the Schengen area; and what assessment they have made of the effect that doing so would have on the amount of revenue generated from tourists to the United Kingdom.

The UK is not part of Schengen arrangements on visas and border controls, and we have no plans to join them.

The UK decided to retain frontier controls at ports and airports because we believe that, for the UK, they are the most effective means of controlling immigration and combating organised and cross-border crime.