IDS: Staying in EU raises our risk of Paris-style attack

Open borders let in terrorists, he warns

BRITAIN will be at greater risk of a Paris-style terror attack if it remains inside the European Union, Iain Duncan Smith declared yesterday.

The Work and Pensions Secretary warned being in ‘ leaves the door open’ to jihadi fighters trying to get into the country.

His comments are a direct riposte to David Cameron’s claim the country’s security is better protected by being in the EU.

Yesterday the Prime Minister invoked the spectres of Vladimir Putin, Islamic State and even African pirates as he claimed Britain was ‘safer’ in.

In an interview with the BBC, Mr Duncan Smith said an ‘open border’ with the Continent did not allow for proper checks on terrorists entering the country.

The EU was ‘in meltdown’ over the ‘massive wave of migration’ from Syria and countries such as Iran and Pakistan, he said.

He added: ‘Who’s to say in the next few years countries who have taken people from various areas aren’t then going to give them leave to remain and even passports, as we’ve seen in some cases?

‘And they in due course may well turn up again in the UK. So these are big issues further down the road for us because this open border does not allow us to check and control people that may come.

‘We’ve seen what happened in Paris where they spent ages planning and plotting so who’s to say it’s not beyond the wit of man that those might already be think- ing about that. The present status of the open border we have right now, many of us feel, does actually leave that door open and we need to see that resolved.’

Mr Duncan Smith’s comments follow last week’s chilling warning from Europol, the EU’s policing arm, that up to 5,000 jihadis could be on the loose in Europe.

Rob Wainwright, British head of Europol, said the Continent faces its ‘highest terror threat in more than ten years’ and between 3,000 and 5,000 terrorists had returned to Europe after fighting with Islamic State.

In the aftermath of the November 13 with derision by Leave campaigners in his own party. One senior backbencher accused him of peddling ‘laughable scare stories’ and resorting to ‘project fear’.

Appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, Mr Cameron insisted Britons will be safer in Europe. ‘We’ll be stronger in the world, being able to get things done, whether that’s making sure our country is safe and our people are safe – and I think we’ll fight terrorism and criminality better,’ he said.

‘We’ll be safer inside the EU because we’re able to work with our partners, strength in numbers in a dangerous world ... A leap in the dark, with uncertainty already in our world, why take a further risk?’

Mr Cameron said that EU membership was a way to ‘get things done’. ‘I care about Britain being able to fix stuff,’ he said.

‘Now whether it’s stopping pirates off the African coast, whether it’s closing down illegal migration routes and closing down smugglers, whether it’s standing up to Vladimir Putin with sanctions, whether it’s the sanctions we put in place to get Iran to abandon its nuclear programme, having that seat at the table in the EU just as being a member of Nato is a vital way that we project our values and our power and our influence in the world.’

Last night Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: ‘The Prime Minister has been dealt a very weak hand in the negotiations. In a game of high-stakes poker, if you have a weak hand, the only thing to do is to bluff. That explains Project Fear.’