Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Nor
help reduce illegal labour
reduce identity fraud
dissuade assylum seekers targetting the UK
make it harder to use fake identification
off the top of my head.
|
OK, so for each of these we need to decide whether ID cards might be effective, whether there might be a more effective alternative (bearing in mind, for example, the huge cost of introducing an ID card scheme), and whether the disruption caused (loss of liberty to the population, administration of the scheme, cost of the scheme) is in proportion to the problem.
In the context of asylum seekers, illegal labour and ID fraud/fake ID are all related issues. That suggests to me that, if you tackle the root of the problem - i.e. it is too easy for illegal immigrants to get into the UK in the first place, and to 'disappear' even when they are caught/claim asylum - then the subsequent problems will also be reduced.
So, how do we deal with the asylum problem? Some ideas:
1. For a start, we hang on like mad to our opt-out from the common Euro-border Schengen Treaty. The fact that we can retain our own border controls is an essential tool.
2. We reinstate the deal struck between the UK and France that allows us to just ship anyone arriving from France back across the Channel. France is a safe country and no-one who has reached there has any business trying to move on here. Labour, in an act of complete lunacy, tore up this deal and the problem has ballooned ever since. Of course, if France finds it has a large number of processed, genuine asylum seekers on its hands, I believe we should do our international duty by accepting some of them to come here.
3. Any and every asylum seeker/possible illegal immigrant arriving here and not immediately returnable to France should be housed in a secure unit while their application is processed. At this point I believe this trespass on their own 'liberties' is justified. If they have truly fled in danger of their lives, this minor inconvenience should be of little concern to them.
4. Anyone found to have 'fled' a country not currently deemed unsafe should be returned there immediately, so they can pursue their asylum claim at that country's British consulate.
Off the top of my head ...
