§ 12.27 p.m.
§ Lord Bassam of Brighton rose to move, That the draft order laid before the House on 28th February be approved [10th Report from the Joint Committee].
§ The noble Lord said: My Lords, the order permits the establishment of so-called juxtaposed immigration controls at railway stations in France and the United Kingdom served by Eurostar. It is a result of several years of careful negotiation with our French counterparts.
§ The idea of juxtaposed controls is not new; provision for such controls was made in the 1986 Treaty of Canterbury, which outlined the conditions for the operation of the Channel Tunnel. The treaty allowed for a supplementary protocol to be agreed that would make provision for juxtaposed controls. That occurred in 1991 when the Sangatte protocol was signed. The protocol provided for the establishment of control bureaux by France and the UK on territory of 1125 the other state. That led to the establishment by France of frontier controls at Cheriton in Kent and by the UK at Coquelles in France. The protocol also regulated the exercise of frontier controls on through trains between the UK and France.
§ The idea of extending juxtaposed controls to include stations served by the Eurostar emerged about three years ago in response to the growth in illegal immigration through the tunnel. For several years, people trying to enter our country without adequate documentation have been misusing the Eurostar service. In the second half of last year, almost 4,000 passengers arrived at Waterloo without the required documents; many claimed asylum upon arrival. That abuse has been encouraged by the fact that there is no liability under French law for SNCF, the French railway company, to check documents for the Paris to London Eurostar route.
§ The idea of juxtaposed controls at Eurostar stations was also a direct response to the possibility that carriers' liability charges might otherwise be imposed on train operators. Carriers' liability charges, consisting of a £2,000 penalty on the inbound carrier for every passenger without adequate documentation who is brought to the UK, originally did not include trains. In 1998 these provisions were extended to cover through trains. However, SNCF was excluded from the arrangements as it was not lawful in France for train operators to carry out documentation checks. But under this Government's Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, provisions are made to resolve legal barriers to the imposition of charges on the SNCF. With the present level of undocumented arrivals, SNCF could be faced with potential charges of £1 million every month.
§ There is provision in the Act for carriers' liability charges not to be applied to train operators. An order can be made under the Act exempting a train operator from carriers' liability charges if there is an agreement in place between the UK and the country concerned that provides for the operation of UK immigration control in that country or for the checking of passports and visas there. When the UK and France have introduced juxtaposed controls, such an agreement will be in place and SNCF may be exempted from carriers' liability penalties.
§ The implementation of the additional protocol to the Sangatte protocol will enable UK immigration officers to conduct immigration control at the Gare du Nord in Paris, and at other stations in France served by the Eurostar. Our immigration officers will be able to identify passengers without the correct documentation and refuse them leave to enter the UK before they board the train. This agreement has the potential to prevent all inadequately documented passengers from travelling on the Eurostar and abusing that method of entering the United Kingdom.
§ It is important to implement juxtaposed controls as soon as possible in order to close the loophole that the 1126 Eurostar currently represents in our immigration control. I am grateful to the House for its early consideration of this order. I beg to move.
§ Moved, that the draft order laid before the House on 28th February be approved.—[10th Report from the Joint Committee.]—(Lord Bassam of Brighton.)
§ Lord BurnhamMy Lords, I hope that this order will apply to travellers on the Eurostar and not under it. This is an uncontroversial order but it is extremely high profile. Therefore, I have just one question for the noble Lord which I hope he will be able to answer unequivocally. Does he believe that the order will help to ensure that unfounded asylum seekers are stopped by the French authorities on their side of the tunnel?
§ Lord Bassam of BrightonMy Lords, I believe that to be the case and that it will be very effective in that regard.
§ Lord GoodhartMy Lords, we too are happy to support the order. However, I make only one comment: this order was included in the list of orders to be dealt with today only at very short notice, which made it difficult to give what is an important order the study it deserves.
§ Lord AmpthillMy Lords, my memory is a bit hazy and I hope your Lordships will forgive me for that. When I chaired the Select Committee on the Channel Tunnel Bill 11 years ago we strongly recommended that British immigration officers should travel on the train. Has that been implemented? It would seem to be an economical way of dealing with the problem. If people are discovered between Paris and Sangatte, they can be decanted at Sangatte and not go through the rigmarole that is implicit in the order.
§ Lord Bassam of BrightonMy Lords, I apologise, first, to the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, for the way in which these matters had to be brought forward. They are widely recognised as being of crucial importance and there is urgency to this order. It follows swiftly on the discussions that took place at Cahors, which led to this happy situation in which the French will work much more closely with us to ensure that immigration control is not abused in the way it has been in the past, and in particular Eurostar itself is not abused.
In relation to the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Ampthill, my understanding is that immigration officials can travel and work on the trains in the way in which the noble Lord suggests. But we need the arrangements under this order in place so that their work and efforts can be that much more effective. We believe that they will be effective and that some of the matters considered by the Select Committee chaired by the noble Lord, Lord Ampthill, are now beginning to fall into place.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.