'Most Britons want a no-nonsense solution to border crisis,' says Spalding-area MP Sir John Hayes
Here is the latest weekly Hayes in the House column by local MP Sir John Hayes.
The mission to secure Britain’s borders took an important step forward last week with the appointment of Alexander Downer to spearhead the first review of British Border Force in more than a decade. This reassessment of the agency’s “structure, powers, funding and priorities” is long-overdue and much needed.
Our current situation is untenable. Thirty seven thousand, four hundred and one people crossed the Channel in lorries or small boats illegally last year, double the previous year and eight times the rate of crossings in 2014. The consequences of lacklustre enforcement are clear - it opens the door to criminals, lines the pockets of predatory human traffickers and risks of the lives of the men, women and children they exploit. I understand this, the British people understand it, and Alexander Downer does too.
He is the ex-Australian High Commissioner to the UK, and, as the former Foreign Affairs Minister for our Commonwealth cousins, was a leading light in Australia’s successful campaign against irregular, illegal maritime migration.
His frank, forthright statements that we must “stop a criminal venture putting lives at risk and the abuse of our immigration system”, and that “no self-respecting country could do otherwise”, are in tune with the sentiments of most Britons who want a no-nonsense solution to this continuing crisis.
The Common Sense Group of over 60 Members of Parliament, which I formed and chair, has led the way in arguing for just such a decisive plan.
Countering a menagerie of irresponsible ‘rights’ lawyers and subversive activists who - aided by obstructive legislation - prise open loopholes through which criminal gangs exploit our immigration system, requires fresh political will and practical new policies.
My group has pressed for an approach similar to that the Australians and Greeks each successfully employed to take on criminal gangs of people smugglers. Like those countries, we need to have the confident courage to deter and deflect where possible; and to detain and deport where necessary.
With that aim in mind, the Common Sense Group both met Roman Quaedvlieg – the architect of Australia’s ‘Operation Sovereign Borders’ which pushed back the boats and established a link between the Australian’s team and our Home Office.
Throughout, we have been in close contact with the Home Secretary, questioning her in the House of Commons on the need for radical reform. With the appointment of Mr Downer, another champion of the Australian approach, to review Border Force, these efforts are bearing fruit.
In all advanced economies, some people leave for good and others arrive to settle, but the process by which they do so must be fair, transparent and legal. Many people that have navigated our immigration system carefully and legally feel let down when they see others arrive who, having broken the law with impunity, demand the right to stay.
Similarly, Britain has a proud record of providing a safe haven for those in fear of persecution, but it is clear that many now crossing the channel unlawfully are economic migrants who chose not to apply to come here legally.
Along with fellow MPs, I am meeting Mr Downer in March to discuss his reforms and assure him that the Common Sense Group will back a programme of enhanced powers of detainment, deportations, together with measures to push back boats, process asylum claims offshore and reform human rights law. It is only by convincing would-be illegal immigrants that they have little chance of reaching Britain’s shores, and even less chance of staying here, that we can outmanoeuvre the people traffickers and solve this crisis.
Time and trials have shown that a fighting fit Border Force, endowed with the right personnel and power to shut down illegal immigration, is the minimum requirement to cope with the growing, evolving threat to our borders.
Our current system is not fit for purpose. Mr Downer’s tested experience and refreshing determination means those of us who yearn for a complete recalibration of how Britain’s borders are patrolled now have a powerful ally leading the charge.