Home Office’s ‘stop and search’ proposal for Irish border risks return to Troubles era, say critics

THE Home Office is planning to set up “stop and search zones” across the Irish border in a move that critics claim would lead to the “hardest of hard borders” after Brexit.

The Counter Terrorism and Border Security Bill will introduce the antiterror checks “within one mile of the Northern Ireland land border”.

Under the proposals, police and border officials could “stop, search and detain” any person near the northern side of the border suspected of planning “hostile activity”. However, the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ), a human rights group in Belfast, says the checks risk violating the British government’s commitment to maintaining an invisible border with the Republic of Ireland after Brexit.

Brian Gormally, director of the CAJ, said: “Will there be a kind of militarised zone along the Border, where roving patrols can stop and question any person, resident or traveller, without any kind of justification? Presumably not, but in this piece of legislation such a scenario is expressly provided for. It is wrong to give such powers to state forces unless they are going to be used for necessary and proportionate reasons. We hope that this is not a preparation for a post-brexit fortress UK.”

Last night Security Minister Ben Wallace said “trying to conflate this with Brexit is a bit desperate”. He added: “For nearly two decades, under schedule 7 of the last Labour Government’s Counter Terrorism Bill, law enforcers have had the power to stop individuals at ports and the border.

“The current Bill going through Parliament simply allows law enforcement to do the same if they suspect someone is an agent of a hostile state.”