Connarty Urges EU Co-Operation On Border Control

Michael Connarty is urging strenghthining of UK borders through EU co-operation.

STRENGTHEN OUR BORDERS BY WORKING TOGETHER.

EXODUS FROM LIBYA PRESENTS NEW CHALLENGE SAYS MP CONNARTY

We can make our borders more secure by working with other EU countries. That was the message given to the government by Linlithgow and East Falkirk MP, Michael Connarty, in a Commons debate last week. He said the issue had new urgency because of the wave of people escaping from the Libyan conflict to Europe.

Mr Connarty said that the UK still had a “somewhat permeable border”, which would be strengthened if it were part of the border arrangements set up under the EU’s Schengen Agreement. “We stick out like a sore thumb at the moment. People can leave the Schengen area, which is protected by Frontex (the Agency which coordinates the policing of the EU’s external borders), and come into our country, which is, sadly, only protected by a Border and Immigration Agency that is much depleted in its policing and administration.”

He said, “We can now see what is happening in Libya and North Africa, with the huge encampment of people in Malta. People are concerned that, when the seas are calmer, a flotilla of people will flee from North Africa – from Tunisia and Libya – into mainland Europe. We can deal with that only if we act together.

“People move into Europe, get a temporary visa and head for the channel ports to come to the UK. We can deal with that only if we deal with it together.”

In urging the government to support the new EU Internal Security Strategy and to opt in to a new EU Directive on Human Trafficking, Michael Connarty said, “It’s about doing the things we do best as 27 neighbouring countries, rather than trying to stay out of things and thinking that we can somehow throw a ring round the UK. We cannot stop people from being trafficked into the UK by trying to throw a ring round the UK. This must be about the point of source and transit, as well as the point of exit and entry.” He said the strategy was about strengthening operational action, not new legislation.

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