BORDER SECURITY: We thought we were joking when we said that pretty much anyone could just wander into Britain. None of us seriously thought it was true. But sadly it turns out that our border controls have been lax for years.
British registered coaches were not checked as they should have been. This is a real worry. It's not just the concern that bogus asylum seekers might break into Britain. The bigger worry is that terrorists and people who would like to destroy our way of life could get in as well.
We need urgently to make sure that the border at Dover and Calais is made secure. Then we need to find out who authorised this secret weakening of our borders in 2007. Was it just the top brass at UKBA? Did Ministers in the then Labour Government know or authorise this? If so which Minister and when?
We also need to be frank about what good border control looks like. If you are searching for a needle in a haystack, do you check every straw? Or do you use your experience and intelligence to find it? I think there is a lot to be said for using intelligence and experience. It's a more efficient use of resources and you are more likely to find the needle. The frontline border officers do a brilliant job. They have deep experience, are patriotic and they can be trusted to do the job brilliantly.
So looking at the Home Secretary's border control pilot there is a case to say you should rely on the experience of our local border officers. There is a case to say that using intelligence received is a good way to target the bad guys. Moreover the figures appear to back this up as the number of illegals caught this year have risen some 10%.
The other major concern I have is that business interests should not come before the security of the nation and of our borders. There is evidence that port authorities and airport operators have bullied UKBA to avoid queues and wave people through. That is not acceptable.
It's not just about passports. Lorries need to be checked too. There is a plan for the number of lorry checking bays at Dover to be reduced. Apparently this is under pressure from the Harbour Board. That is not acceptable. We need to see lorries properly checked. We need to see our border officers have the space to operate in they need. Border security is more important than commercial interests.
We need to ensure our borders are secure. We must keep our nation safe from her enemies. This is an essential duty of Government. One I mean to see carried out effectively and in a way that gives us all confidence.
Border Security
People in Dover speak time and again about their overriding concern for the safety and security of our borders and the security of our nation. Charlie Elphicke stands with us in wanting to keep our country safe.
Living in the Gateway to England, Dover people know first hand how the previous Labour Government totally failed to keep our borders secure. We know all about the disgusting human trafficking that goes on, the bogus asylum seekers and the evil crime syndicates that smuggle people in who have no right to be here.
We also know all too well that Labour did nothing about it and lost control of our borders. Here is the reality of the Government's disgraceful failure to keep our nation and borders safe and secure:
- 577,000 people came to Britain in 2007 - and net migration was 237,000
- The population has risen 1.8 million since 1997 thanks to immigration alone - There were 25,800 asylum applications in the 12 months to September 2008, a rise of 15% on the year before
- To cope with all this, some 65,000 new homes are needed each year, meaning even more concrete and congestion along with increasing pressure on our public services
And while they fail to stop people coming to Britain that have no right to be here, we know that locally they arrest illegal entrants who try to leave the country. At the Dover Removal Centre, they give bail to people who are being held . . . people who then, surprise, surprise, vanish and are never seen again.
Charlie Elphicke believes in proper border security and wants to ensure the safety and security of our nation for the long term. It's great that illegal entries at Dover have fallen 80% lately. Charlie is working hard to protect our UKBA workers from being fired in line with the plans Labour left behind when they were voted out.
Policing and crime
"Law and Order is in Meltdown" These were the words of Gordon Brown's security adviser, ex-Met boss Lord Stevens. Stevens said under Labour "The rules of the jungle now prevail. Law and order is in meltdown".It's a real worry. Here are the facts:
1,046,437 violent crimes, doubled from 502,778 in 1998 1,773 people were victims of local violent crime in 2005/2006 Gun crime doubled to 11,084, up from 5,209 in 1998 Police can't go on the beat because they're tied up filling in forms £20 Billion to be wasted on ID cards that won't make us any safer
So David Cameron and the Conservatives launched a long-term Crime Action Plan. The key measures are:
- Make families stronger - keeping families together so children have a stable upbringing
- Support teachers to teach children the need for respect and bringing more good schools into deprived communities - for example, the Astor Federation has turned the failing St Radigunds School into the successful White Cliffs Primary
- Help young people to come off welfare and into work - Work brings responsibility, dignity, money and respect - making people less likely to commit crime
- A National Citizens Service - where all 16-year-olds can go on a six-week programme to develop the confidence and skills to contribute to society
- Tough enforcement and prison sentences for young people caught carrying illegal knives, whilst also working to rehabilitate young offenders.
Charlie Elphicke thinks we should have more Police on the streets. That we should introduce zero tolerance policing. We need a border Police to stop drugs, gun running and people trafficking. We should help parents to take control and give greater support to teachers
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Charlie Elphicke believes in proper border security and wants to ensure the safety and security of our nation for the long term. As I', sure so does Gwnfor Prosser, how do you propose to achieve this?
- Olly
Prospective, future , conservative voters, need to know exactly what the Tories plan to do about Border Security. The whole issue , including illegals , failed asylum seekers and foreign , convicted criminals. It is an emotive issue to many people in this country. If the Conservatives address the issue right it will be a massive boost to changing this Labour Government.
- mike
The UK is full and cannot possibly sustain a population of 70 million. The Conversatives will do well if they address the issues of people born and bred in the United Kingdom and try to stop albeit with limited success the madness that was Labour's multi cultural society. Ethnic mixing is good but Labour just allowed the borders to be wide open and this country to be a magnet for spongers, murderers and preachers of hate from other countries basically people who have not added value to this country or helped blend in to the British way of doing things. My other hope for the New Conservative Administration is to restore the balance between our rights and obligations as people, to cut down on excessive government interference in people's lives and finally make work pay and not allow the increasingly "shameless" society that we now have where no one works and kids learn this as the norm. I hope the new conversatives embody the word society that Mrs Thatcher deleted and encompass the community. As for the national debt, by all means reduce this but in view of the fragile nature of the post recession recovery I strongly suggest a slash and burn policy of the national debt needs to be avoided if unemployment isn't going to go through the roof and the economy collapses. Area's for cutting, Ending the universal child benefit which should be means tested to income, ending the tax credits for incomes up to 60k this should be halved to 30k as a joint income, keeping vat at 17.5 per cent, and make the banks pay the bailouts back over a 5 year period.
- Gabriella Coscia
yes chas i am back to plague you. i realise that you are rushed off of your feet, but the issue of the border agency cuts are of prime importance, jobs are going in the next month or two leaving junior inexperienced staff to wave through a tide of potential criminals. word has already got around that dover will be a free entry haven from august. please stress to mr cameron that it is a false saving to carry through the cuts from the previous administration. the money spent on wages is miniscule compared with the costs these people will bring about. all the best.
- howard mcsweeney
Ok, so the UK is worried and concerned about immigration - we all know that and you hark on about border security covering this topic. But border becurity does not just cover immigration. YOUR border Officers (UKBA)are deperately concerned that commodities such as drugs and firearms are being ignored and pushed to one side so that the immigration takes centre stage. This is wrong and a complete faliure by this goverment. Look at the coast of the South East and ask who polices it....UKBA do not have any land based teams to patrol the coast and dont belive the nonsense that its intelligence based. That would be fine if there was an intelligence team covering this area. As our MP perhaps you should know more about the workings of our "border guardians" as you call them (we are actually officers...)...you should know the issues and know what your officers need. And the idea of a border police force...save the money and turn UKBA into what customs and excise once was .
- Duty man
I have recently read the latest of Charlie Elphicke's newsletters that was posted through my door and happened upon the small article about Border Security. I couldn't help but think that Charlie knows very little about the UKBA just by looking at the photograph. Charlie is seen with a group of staff at the Eastern Docks wearing ORANGE high visibilty coats. I'm not sure who he thinks he was being photographed with but it looked mre like employees of DFDS Seaways. UKBA wear YELLOW high vis. clothing and to give people a clue, UK Border Agency is clearly printed on both front and back. I also agree with the post from Duty man in some respects. The agency's number one priority is Immigration and this means other problem areas such as controlled drugs, commercial quantities of excise goods, weapons and criminal cash are being pushed down the list. In some respects the forming of a "unified force" at the border is a good idea but the way it has been set up and managed is appaling. There is also the issue of resources. How can Border Force Officers (yes "Officers", not guardians) effectively carry out their functions with a complete lack of funding and proper equipment.
- In the know
In the know is quite right. The people in the picture were employees of DFDS / Norfolkline and Mr Spain in particular. Why? He and his colleagues had discovered a lorry load of people being trafficked who were close to death. Keeping our borders safe is not just about UKBA - everyone has a role to play and Mr Spain did some great work. I have been making a strong case on the UKBA border security operation at Dover. Sadly, Labour planned to fire lots border officers before the election and that makes it harder to argue against when the new Government is working in unbankrupt our country by cutting public spending following years of economic incompetence which brought our country to its knees.
- Charlie Elphicke
Improved border control is important around the country the drain on local and national budgets and resources is gigantic the uk is an island we need to remember that and stop thinking of ourselves as european the world laughs at us and knows us as the soft touch. The uk should be for the uk people. I have personaly been at the dentist with an absess so bad that i could hardly open my mouth to be sent home with antibiotics because thats all the dentist could do on the nhs while a coach load of children brought into the country by a charity get all the free treetment they needed. There are people hardly able to afford to feed and look after themselves that have lived in this country all thier lives while people that have nothing but ill intent towards our way of life can have a greater standered of living. The bleeding hearts of our country seem to shout the loudest it is time to stand up and voice all our oppinions and be counted just as equaly.
- Ben
Didn't the UK manage better when we had Customs and Excise dealing with Immigration? The development of a whole new agency muddied the waters on border control and immigration, it will take decades for the fall out to be put right. Only the UK could take something solid and dependable and break it overnight, making it more costly and certainly more inefficient. We should congratulate ourselves on the diluting of our own systems and the transparency in which we have done it is astonishing. Did you realise that public services have all been sent the same way? The creation of the Ministry of Justice did nothing to aid the services under its banner, the stark opposite in fact as fat cat management jobs were created and wages increased the officers who actually do the primary work had to be laid off. UKBA was created under the banner of The Home Office, it is in its infancy as an agency but already the mismanagement of the UK is taking its toll on it and their officers are being laid off. What ever happened to the old adage of "two many cooks"?
- Ian