Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to tighten control of illegal immigration, in particular in the light of recent events at Calais.

The Government is committed to maintaining a safe, secure and effective border. This includes a rigorous system of checks upon arrival. The Home Secretary and French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve set out a number of commitments in a joint declaration, on 20 September 2014, to tackle problems at the port of Calais. This included £12 millio from the UK Government to help reinforce security.

We continue to work with the French Government to implement the practical solutions that have been agreed. On 2 July, the Home Secretary and the French Interior Minister reaffirmed the determination of both countries to strengthen and complete their joint strategy to deal with this common challenge, including by increasing the intervention fund to secure access to the Channel Tunnel. We are also addressing the factors that pull illegal immigration to the UK, through the Immigration Act 2014. The Act puts the law firmly on the side of those who respect it, not those who break it. It does this by stopping migrants using public services to which they are not entitled, reducing the pull factors which encourage people to come to the UK for the wrong reasons, and making it easier to remove people who should not be here.

The UK is also playing a leading role in pushing for comprehensive, long-term action through the EU and the UN to tackle the causes of illegal immigration and the organised trafficking gangs behind it, as well as increasing support and protection for those who need it in North and East Africa. Above all, we need to break the link between getting on a boat and achieving residence in Europe.