This week the former Chief Executive of the UK Border Agency, Rob Whiteman, warned that Kent could receive an additional 50,000 asylum seekers a year if Britain were to leave the European Union. His comments came after the Prime Minister stated that outside of the EU, there was a real risk that France would cancel the treaty agreement with the UK, which means that British passport control checks on inbound passengers are carried out in Calais and Coquelles, rather than Dover and Folkestone.
The current agreement, which has been in force since 2003 means that if, for example, the UK Border force found a person concealed in a vehicle at their check point in France, they would not have the right to claim asylum in the UK. However, if those checks were carried out after arrival in Kent, that same individual could then claim asylum here. Before the treaty was signed between Britain and France thousands of passengers were discovered on arrival not having the correct travel documents, meaning that the exit checks by the French authorities were not ensuring that only those with valid tickets and passports were allowed to make the journey.
This agreement works massively in our favour. The French government originally signed up to it, because they thought, following the crisis in the former refugee camp at Sangatte, that it would send a message that the border checks were now much tighter and it would be harder for people to reach the UK. However, we now have a situation that even with these checks in place, a migrant camp containing many thousands of people has established itself, and is growing. It is not surprising that the city authorities in Calais, and leading regional politicians in northern France, are campaigning for this agreement to be scrapped. They believe that in doing so, the migrants currently living in the Calais ‘Jungle’ would move to Britain.
Rob Whiteman has also stated this week that he thinks “it is almost certain that if [Britain] did leave the EU the treaty would come to an end.” Whilst the French government has said that it currently has no plans to change the arrangements, their Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who is responsible for border security and policing, warned in a recent interview, that there would undoubtedly be ‘countermeasures’ against Britain if we left the European Union. Given that this agreement between Britain and France works so much to our favour, and scrapping it would be popular with people living in the Nord Pas de Calais region, there is a real risk that this action would be taken.
This debate underlines the fact that there are many complex issues that could be affected by Britain leaving the EU, and located as we are, on our national border with the continent, these could have a greater impact on us than other parts of the UK. That doesn’t mean that we have to accept all that Europe offers. I believe that our continued membership of the EU must be based on reformed terms that protect us from being drawn into economic and political union, and give us the right to withhold welfare payments to people from Europe who have never worked here and paid taxes into our system. The next few weeks will determine whether or not that deal is possible.