John Redwood: The British public are right to demand a real border policy

It should, by now, be apparent to every MP – however hard of hearing when listening to the public voice – that voters want a big reduction in total migration and an end to illegal migration. Most people who want this crucial policy change are not racists. They want far fewer new arrivals of whatever colour, creed or culture. Above all they want an end to criminals arriving and to the businesses that flourish on people smuggling.

By definition, people entering on unauthorised small boats or in the back of lorries are breaking the law. It is an offence to enter the country illegally. It is also an offence to assist the criminals organising illegal and unsafe boat trips, helping them evade taxes and undertake money laundering. It is an offence to obtain UK benefits on false pretences, where some are lying about their age, origins and needs. It is an offence for an illegal migrant to take a job, and an offence to work for cash without reporting the work and income.

Our jails have 10,000 foreign prisoners in them – a disproportionate and expensively large number. The gangs Labour promised to smash may be adding drug dealing and organising illegal working to their criminal transport businesses.

It is this sense of criminality that alarms people. Why do laws apply to us but not to these new offenders? It is bad enough that some people born and brought up here commit crimes. We do not want new arrivals to make matters worse. Allegations of sexual offences, particularly against children, incenses communities. The fear that the smuggling gang crimes lead to more violence also worries peaceful towns and villages. The growth in industrial scale shoplifting could lead to more convenience and local shops giving up. We do not want our shops subject to violent attacks and widespread theft. We do not want our children to be at risk of sexual exploitation. This is why people are demanding action if they think the smuggling gangs and their customers are adding to other criminality in their community.

So what can government do? It could take further the belated work of the last government in greatly reducing the numbers of work visas granted to foreigners, to make a further decisive fall in legal migration. It is high time government did more to encourage, train and require people on benefits to get a job unless they are badly incapacitated. We need to end cheap labour coming in under visas – some arrive here legally with a visa, only to stay after its expiry or use it to claim permanent rights.

The government could copy the USA and close our borders to illegals. It could insist on processing claims away from the UK. It could require people arriving here to have properly registered their origins and nature of claim before travelling from a safe country like France.

They could arrest illegals on arrival. They could examine their phones to see how they got details of the boats and how they paid for their trips. They should expect the arrivals to tell them who sold them the ticket, how the money was paid, who drove the boat and who organised the trip. They should be charged for accommodation they need here if they refuse to return as requested. The bill could be cancelled if they leave the UK in a specified time.

They could copy Greece and its tough new rules turning back illegal migrants. They could withhold further payments to France all the time illegal numbers are going up or remain high. They could leaflet the camps in Northern France, stressing the dangers of a small boat crossing, and saying Border Force cannot be relied on to take people off small boats in mid Channel, which anyway is hazardous. They could copy Italy by having a good list of countries that are safe that means people from them are unlikely to be granted asylum. The UK could modify its position under international law to make clear in UK Statute that we intend to decide who stays and who goes, not some foreign court.

People in the UK voted to live in a sovereign democratic state. That means a state that can control its own borders and decide who to invite in and who to keep out. We want to be able to trust our Parliament to make good decisions about admissions and the rights of people in the UK. If Parliament continues to ignore the clear instructions of the British people then we look forward to taking them out of office when the election comes.

There is no international court or group of lawyers who should be able to gainsay the British Parliament when it finally gets round to making it clearer people smugglers are not welcome here. There is growing opposition to putting people up in luxury hotels and giving them benefits whilst lawyers paid for by us try to find a court that will overturn the wishes of the British public.

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