Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment the Government has made of the implications of its decision to remove border staff at the ports of Stranraer and Cairnryan for UK security.

The ferry crossings between Stranraer, Cairnryan and Northern Ireland are domestic routes and are therefore not subject to immigration border controls.

Home Office Immigration Enforcement in Northern Ireland and Police Scotland work in close partnership to detect illegal migrants who are already in the UK and travelling on these ferries. Detections have increased year on year since the current partnership arrangement was introduced in 2011.