EU’s open borders ‘help terrorists’

BEING part of the EU does little to keep Britain safe from terrorism – and actually forces the UK to ‘import risk’, the UK Justice Minister has said.

Dominic Raab said Britain could reject ten times as many suspected criminals and immigration offenders from outside Europe due to the open borders system.

It was ‘undeniable’, he said, that ‘being outside the EU would result in stronger preventative checks at the UK border’.

The Remain camp argues that even with free EU movement, the UK has managed to deny entry to 6,000 EU nationals since 010.

But human rights lawyer Mr Raab said that in contrast, some ‘67,000 non-EU nationals were refused entry. That is ten times the number, even though we’ve had double the number of European nationals visiting the UK over that period.’

UK intelligence agencies are powerless to bar EU nationals thought to be linked to terrorism, Mr Raab said.

Under the Free Movement directive, EU member states can only deny entry to EU nationals where they present a ‘genuine, present and sufficiently serious risk’. Links to terrorism or serious criminal activity was not enough to keep them out, he said.

Even serious previous convictions were not enough justification. Mr Raab said this ‘massively increases’ the number of people that have to be monitored by intelligence agencies.

‘That means we are importing risk and stretching our capacity to cope with it,’ Mr Raab added. ‘It is undeniable that regaining control over our borders would be a valuable defensive tool.’

But those f rom outside Europe can be barred if they have been sentenced to 1 months or more jail or if there are doubts about their character, conduct or links.