And how do you propose doing that ? Are you going to ask every single EU. citizen what their motives are for entering the UK. at Calais, Heathrow, St.Pancras and elsewhere ? If so the queues are going to take a very long time to process, and the casual tourist coming for a long weekend in London is going to get pissed off very quickly and take their money to Paris or Amsterdam instead.
It is a long time since I arrived in the UK. by ship KC. However by plane or by train (via the tunnel) all baggage is controlled prior to boarding.
All of this stuff about ''taking back control of borders'' is hot air SH. for the consumption of the gullible. We already do control borders. Britain monitors all sea crossings, airports, the Channel Tunnel, and imposes passport/ID Card controls on all arrivals from every country (except Ireland). The UK. retains the right to restrict the freedom of movement where a person's conduct represents ''A genuine, present & sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental interests of society''. EU. law allows Britain an ''emergency brake'' to restrict EU. migrants in the UK. claiming in work benefits for up to 4 years. EU. law does not provide nationals from other EU member states with an unlimited right to enter or remain in the UK. The right to live in the UK without any conditions and formalities only lasts for 3 months - this right is also limited ''On grounds of public policy, public security or public health''. I have often challenged you to actually describe what you mean by ''Taking back control of borders'' (at least more than Britain already does) and what this would actually mean at the point of entry. So far you have failed to, or have avoided the question, and so your comments remain only hot air - soundbites thrown out to the gullible, like most Brexiteer propaganda.
I am not saying that no drugs get through KC. The first concern of the Eurostar is obviously safety. When I board in Brussels I go through 2 sets of passport controls - firstly French and then British (No Belgian because the first stop is Lille) - and then baggage controls which are done by scanner exactly the same as in an airport. There is nothing to stop the UK. upping its controls at all points of entry without having to leave the EU. to do it.
Australia does not have neighbours which are one hours train journey away SH. How are you going to do this without massively inconveniencing the millions of EU. tourists who come to Britain each year ?
Yes and queued for an hour on our river boat to have every single passport and person checked.. Serbian retaliation for not being allowed in the EU!
The politic of fear you and your ilk put out is that the Romanians or The Poles or some other people's are the so called plague of locusts.. Such a small minded view when we clearly need immigrant workers for so many aspects of our economy.
Most terrorists appear to be homegrown SH. There is something which you do not understand about Schengen SH. European borders have always been different to British ones - something to do with a lack of water ! They have always been porous, and Schengen is simply a reflection of that. The only exception to this was the Iron Curtain - I once crossed the border to the GDR with a transit Visa and that really was a 'hard border' - only for those with strong nerves ! All others are superficial lines drawn across fields, open countryside, forests and mountain ranges, where it is possible to only control actual roads or railway lines. Do you think that eg. the French can 'control' the Spanish border ? Many years ago, whilst walking the pilgrimage way to Santiago de Compostela we did not know if we were in one country or the other - in one village they spoke French and in the next Spanish (Basque), with nothing in between. Many of Europe's borders are of this nature and terrorists, or other criminals, have always been able to cross them, with or without Schengen. If we start controlling all border stations then the mountain rescue service will have it's work multiplied tenfold.
