Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support Amendment 54 and will speak to my two amendments after Clause 48 in the group. The House had an extensive debate on the common travel area in Committee. We now support the noble Lord, Lord Glentoran, in all the concerns he has raised under Amendment 54. The reforms proposed in Clause 48 could end the CTA as a passport-free zone, as the noble Lord said, with the Government including full routine passport controls on all air and sea routes between the Republic of Ireland and the UK, including Northern Ireland. The Government have said very little about the costs and practicalities of this scheme during previous debates on the subject, but I thank them for their letter of 19 March, which goes into more detail. The Government's plans are costed at between £67 million and £76 million over 10 years. Does that really provide good value for money? Is there currently the physical space for full immigration checks in some of the smaller ports and airports within the UK? It is perhaps surprising that nowhere in the impact assessments prepared for the Bill or the consultation entitled Strengthening the Common Travel Area is it explained why resources should be directed at this internal border rather than the external borders of the common travel area where people subject to immigration control are first controlled. The impact assessment described the intended benefits of the proposals as, ““Reduction in imported asylum cases and abuse of immigration system. Increased border security. Reduction in number of illegal migrants and potential reduction in illegal working. Reduction in cross border crime (including serious organised crime)””. As the impact assessment is candid enough to state, none of those proposed benefits has been quantified. Whether resources are to be diverted from the external borders of the common travel area, or given to this new measure rather than to the external border is not clear. A ““border””, in true Humpty-Dumpty fashion, appears to mean what we want it to mean in a particular bullet point. The most dramatic effect of the reimposition of controls will be on those not subject to immigration control. There will clearly be a considerable socioeconomic impact on CTA nationals who travel between the UK and Ireland, as the noble Lord, Lord Glentoran, pointed out, and who do not have either passports or UK identity cards, but will now have to purchase them. As the Minister himself admits in his letter of 19 March: "““There may be more significant impacts on leisure travel as all passengers will require passports in order to travel to the UK””." Given the current economic climate, it is unfortunate that the Government are introducing a measure which will result in an estimated £43.5 million loss to the tourism industry. Tourism is one of the most important sectors of the Northern Irish economy and to introduce a measure which could damage that industry during these current economic difficulties is, quite frankly, bordering on the irresponsible. Amendments 55A and 55B deal specifically with the question of the land border. They are alternatives, dependent on the decision of the House on leaving out Clause 48. Despite the Government stating their intention for CTA passport control to only be introduced on air and sea routes, that is not, as the noble Lord, Lord Glentoran, said, explicit in the Bill. At present, Section 1(3) of the 1971 Act prevents all CTA journeys being subjected to control under the same Act. Clause 48 removes all reference to not subjecting CTA/UK journeys to control. The Bill therefore actually has the effect of removing in its entirety the law that prevents CTA routes being subject to control. While the control arrangements detailed in Schedule 2 to the 1971 Act refer to and are understood as usually applying to air and sea routes, the Government can, through an Order in Council, determine otherwise. Amendment 55B would prevent such an order placing immigration controls on the land border. In Committee, the House considered an amendment similar to Amendment 55A. I do not intend to repeat all the arguments made at that stage. The Minister gave the clearest details to date on how the mobile checkpoints proposed by the Government will operate. Arguing that passengers will be selected on the basis of ““intelligence and risk””, he outlined that on the busy main Belfast-Dublin route the UKBA would, "““target the odd bus, minibus or taxi, because our experience has shown that those are much more likely to be a threat””." Regardless of whether a Government decide to bring in an actual duty to carry a document when crossing the land border, clearly all those stopped under enforcement operations will be expected to satisfy Border Agency officers that they are British or Irish citizens through producing passports, other ID documents or otherwise establishing their bona fides. Non-CTA nationals will also be expected to fulfil this requirement. Even if there is no actual document requirement, there would be a de facto document requirement. The Government have not yet addressed how a person is expected to satisfy a UKBA official that they are either British or Irish citizens. We hear the reassuring words of the Minister that the Government, "““do not employ racial profiling””. —[Official Report, 4/3/09; col.758.]" However, as was said in Committee, the clear question in the context of ethnic diversity is how those policing the land border will be able to tell who is a British or Irish citizen and who is not. Who, on indicating that they are not carrying any documents, which the Government say they have no obligation to do, will be allowed to proceed and who will be subject to further examination and even arrest and detention until identity is verified? If non-CTA nationals are expected to carry passports or ID cards and British and Irish citizens are expected to carry a document, how will UKBA patrols know who is compelled to carry a passport and who is not? The Government have still not provided an answer on whether a Northern Ireland driving licence would be acceptable as proof of CTA nationality. Despite the Government stating the intention for CTA passport control to be introduced only on air and sea routes, this is not explicit in the Bill, as the noble Lord, Lord Glentoran, said. Amendments 55A and 55B are needed to avoid the sort of confusion that I have spoken of this afternoon.