Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

My Lords, in my remarks this evening I will specifically address Clause 46, which deals with the common travel area between the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and the Crown dependencies. I am particularly concerned at its impact on Northern Ireland. The common travel area recognises the close social, economic and cultural ties and the special relationship and shared history between the Republic of Ireland and the UK. The history of the north and south of the island of Ireland is shared in terms of language, culture, economics and close family relationships, as do, to a lesser degree, the Republic of Ireland and the UK as a whole. Rather than strengthen an agreement that has made travel across the island of Ireland and between the Republic of Ireland and the UK easier for nearly a century, the proposals before us effectively abolish the common travel area, particularly with respect to air and sea travel. They do this by removing the provision that means that persons departing from or arriving in the UK from within the common travel area are not subject to immigration control. The clause effectively introduces immigration controls on all sea and air routes between the UK and the Republic of Ireland. This appears to have been developed with limited understanding of the needs of the particular circumstances of Northern Ireland. The proposals on tightening the regulation of cross-border travel are, on the island of Ireland and particularly in Northern Ireland, very sensitive. We on these Benches do not think that the Government have made their case for any change to the common travel area. It is our understanding that the main reasons for these proposals are the e-borders initiative which will require proof of identity for all passengers travelling between the Republic of Ireland and the UK, and the need to bring the UK system into line with the developments in the Republic of Ireland. The UK Border Agency has also made much of the changed security concerns and intimated that these are in part behind these proposals. For two reasons we find this unconvincing. First, the proposals do not provide for policing of the land border, which is very porous. Secondly, the measures now sought were not deemed necessary between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland during the 1970s and 1980s when the Troubles in Northern Ireland were at their height. The consultation document mentioned the risk of abuse of the common travel area but gave no evidence of such abuse. Clause 46 means that immigration officials can challenge an individual they suspect of not being in compliance with immigration rules to prove their nationality. This will apply not only to those travelling by sea and air but to those stopped by an ad-hoc immigration check near the land border. This power can be applied to any individual, including British and Irish nationals. There will clearly be a considerable socio-economic impact on CTA nationals who travel between the UK and Ireland and who do not have a passport or UK identity card but will now have to purchase them. Those communities along the border, especially near the sea crossings and areas where tourism is a cross-border pursuit by virtue of the proximity between the north and south of Ireland, will be severely inconvenienced by having to carry ID cards; for example, those living by the lakes of Fermanagh which straddle the two jurisdictions and which are a major tourism destination in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. There could be a particularly significant impact on the ethnic minority communities in these locales. The impact of these measures will be significantly disproportionately felt in Northern Ireland. It is our belief that they will impact negatively on levels of trade and tourism. The UK Border Agency's own figures suggest that implementing these measures would lead to an economic cost from loss in tourism revenue of up to £12 million in the first year. However, it is not clear where this figure comes from or to whom it applies. Could the Minister please elaborate? Where does this figure come from? Does it relate to tourism in the UK as a whole, to Northern Ireland, or to England, Scotland or Wales? Have the Government had any discussions with the Irish Government about the potential impact on tourism there? The tourism industry is one of the most important sectors of the Northern Irish economy and to introduce a measure which could damage that industry during the current economic difficulties is frankly irresponsible. One of the great innovations in recent years is a common tourism effort, north and south, to attract tourists from abroad to both parts of the island. This seems to me to be clearly endangered by these proposals. If a list of travel documents is to be imposed, surely it should not be such a restrictive list as is currently envisaged; namely, only a passport or a UK ID card. Currently, airlines flying between Ireland and the UK, and indeed airlines with routes within the UK, require proof of identity to board a flight and will accept many forms of official identification such as a driver’s licence, an Armed Forces identity card or a Northern Ireland electoral identity card. I once tried using a House of Lords pass but it did not pass muster. As many individuals have family and personal relationships as well as job commitments across the two states, surely it would make sense to adopt a broad approach to facilitate travel. Failure to provide a particular document should not be a reason for refusal of permission to travel, or a potential criminal offence. We welcome the Government's pledge in the consultation and in their response that they will not reintroduce permanent, fixed checkpoints on the land border, which frankly never worked anyway. The Bill should make this explicit to prevent an interpretation to the contrary or changes by subsequent regulation. As I noted before, the Government's stated objective is to strengthen and increase the security of the UK's CTA borders. However, no empirical evidence relating to the CTA border has been provided by the Government regarding the necessity of these reforms, nor has there been much information about how the proposed border controls will work in practice, particularly if there are no controls on the land border. Are the Government suggesting that they will make checks on those travelling between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK? The measures proposed in the Bill mean that UK citizens in Northern Ireland are subject to travel controls that are not imposed on UK citizens travelling from one region of Britain to another, yet crossing from Northern Ireland to the Republic is as common an experience for those living in Newry, Enniskillen and Derry as is the journey from Chester into Wales or from Berwick-upon-Tweed into Scotland. Any moves towards isolating Northern Ireland within the British Isles is a regrettable step backwards that should be avoided. Can the Minister inform the House of the costs and implications for infrastructure that these measures will entail? Is there currently the physical space for full immigration checks at some of the smaller ports and airports within the UK? Will the changes provide good value for money? Would it not make more sense to work closely with the Irish Government effectively to draw a line around the two islands and allow the free flow of movement between them? Will the checks be relaxed if there is the development of a complementary system of e-borders and visa checks between Ireland and the UK? I understand that the Irish Government are bringing in their own e-borders system. Or are the Government using a sledgehammer to crack a fairly small nut? These Benches are extremely concerned at references to mobile checks being made on a ““risk-led”” basis. The CTA consultation proposed the introduction of, "““ad hoc immigration checks on vehicles to target non-CTA nationals””." The Home Office has subsequently stated that such checks would be ““intelligence led”” on persons both arriving in and leaving Northern Ireland. The Government have not set out what criteria will be used as the basis for these operations or set out transparent monitoring to ensure that they are not relying on racial profiling. The proposed powers in the CTA consultation will only increase the likelihood of operations such as Operation Gull. It is essential that the circumstances in which such checks may be made are carefully defined to avoid establishing a broad power of internal immigration control. We are concerned that these measures could have a disproportionate impact on ethnic minority persons crossing, or even just living and working near, the land border. The potential outcome of these circumstances would mean that ethnic minority persons would have to constantly carry identity papers or face frequent questioning regarding their status. Let us consider, for example, the plans of the UK and Ireland to resettle groups of refugees from camps in Tanzania. These refugees have been selected on the basis of their vulnerability. The group will be resettled in a cross-border project in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Its members are likely to want to visit fellow community members across the border. Could they potentially be more likely to be checked in the planned ““intelligence-led”” operations at the land border? Further, as they will be travelling on refugee travel documents which are not provided for in the list of acceptable identification documents, they may encounter problems as a result, as I did with my House of Lords pass. Genuinely intelligence-led operations should apply evidence thresholds and practices concurrent with the norms of a democratic society outside an emergency situation. There are, for example, existing provisions in the Immigration Act 1971 for search and arrest by immigration officers through a warrant granted by a magistrate to an immigration officer when the magistrate is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for suspicion. There is no indication to date that UKBA intends to restrict intelligence-led operations to these circumstances. As well as immigration control, the CTA impact assessment makes some passing references to the reforms also being aimed at reducing organised crime and counterterrorism risks. We have raised concerns in the past at powers that are properly the role of police officers being delegated to civilians. Noble Lords from all sides of the House will be aware that there is a particular policing context within Northern Ireland, including contexts for human rights compliance and different structures for oversight and accountability. We are concerned that powers and actions more appropriately vested in police officers are being taken up by UKBA officers, without the same standard, training and accountability as the PSNI officers possess. There is a range of wide discretionary powers vested in immigration officers. This includes provisions relating to the removal in Section 10 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. Actions pertaining to the ability to flag down and stop vehicles on the land border and the potential to detain their occupants are reminiscent of emergency-type powers which could act contrary to the normalisation of security arrangements committed to in the Good Friday agreement. The common travel area arrangements would benefit from being clarified and formally established. It is our belief, however, that the common travel area would be best strengthened by making travel between the two countries easier and clarifying the details of that freedom of travel, in the form of the mutually recognised visa system or the jointly issued common visa.