UK Borders Bill

I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Carnegy, that this is a serious matter which concerns not only Clauses 1 to 4, but also Clause 30(1) and (2), which deal with people trafficking. It all depends on when these clauses come into operation. If there were to be a delay, the situation would remain the same in Scotland as it is now in England and Wales, and there would be plenty of time to consider whether legislation should be introduced in the Scottish Parliament to parallel these powers. I understand that the Labour Party gave an undertaking that if it had been re-elected in Scotland it would have introduced legislation in the Scottish Parliament to parallel these provisions. It was always Labour’s intention that it should apply them north of the Border, but the SNP has not, as I understand it, declared whether it intends to maintain that policy. I tried to speak to Mr Stewart Hosie, the SNP home affairs spokesman at the other end of the Corridor, but I was unable to get hold of him before we came into the Grand Committee. The simple way of approaching this would be for the Government and the SNP to get together and decide how they are going to deal with this, whether or not the SNP considers it necessary to have such powers or whether it thinks that the situation is satisfactory as it stands. However, I would suggest that there could be a problem in the end because people seeking to evade our immigration laws may well see the Scottish ports of entry as easier targets if Clauses 1 to 4 are not extended to Scotland. Indeed, I shall take up the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Carnegy, by quoting the warning given on two separate occasions by my honourable friend the Member for Orkney and Shetland about a route to Scotland via the Faroe Islands. He first raised it in a Written Question on 14 June, and was told by the Minister, Mr Liam Byrne, that there was no evidence to show that the route was being abused. In an intervention on 9 July my honourable friend referred the Minister to a report in the Scotsman published at the beginning of June about two groups of men who were arrested for entering the country illegally. They told the immigration authorities that they had done so by travelling to Denmark, then on to the Faroe Islands, and from there to Shetland. The Minister said that he would look into the matter, but this morning my honourable friend told me that he has not heard anything further. That is surprising, given that the BIA told the Aberdeen Press and Journal as long ago as 5 June that it was monitoring the situation and that by 11 June it had been made aware of the potential route to the far north following the arrests in Aberdeen. It would be useful if the Minister could tell us something about the investigation being conducted by the BIA and when it is likely to be concluded, because we need to know before we dispense with this proposal. Whether this new threat would be effectively countered by extending the powers of the Bill to Scotland is not obvious. My honourable friend tells me that there is a massive amount of cruise traffic into Orkney and Shetland, but only one immigration officer and two customs officers for the whole of his constituency. That is an obvious risk. Further, my honourable friend reminded me only this morning that the Scottish Affairs Committee in another place warned some time ago that an intelligence-based approach to immigration and customs, which seems to have been adopted in Scotland, is inadequate on its own. It has clearly failed in this instance and we need to know whether the inquiries being made by Mr Byrne will address the wider question of immigration and customs officer staffing levels in Scotland.