Lib Dem leader Ed Davey calls for UK to join EU pact to tackle small boats

Abbie Llewelyn, Press Association political staff

Sir Ed Davey has called for the UK to join the EU’s Migration and Asylum Pact to give the UK new powers to return small boat arrivals.

The Liberal Democrats say the pact would allow the UK legally to return migrants to the first EU country they entered and grant Britain access to the EU’s biometric database.

The party argues that Brexit has made it more difficult to carry out checks, as the Home Office no longer has access to EU-wide databases with background information, criminal history and data on whose asylum applications have been denied elsewhere.

Party leader Sir Ed said: “Farage and the Conservatives should hang their heads in shame for breaking our borders with their bad Brexit deal.

“But instead of apologising to the British public, they are now exploiting the mess they created for their own gain.

“We have a plan that would finally end the small boats crisis: a pact with every EU country that will allow us to return people who come over the Channel, taking away the major pull factor that Farage and co created and destroying the business model of the criminal gangs.”

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson said: “Time and time again, Nigel Farage and the architects of the dangerous small boats chaos tell us they have a new plan to end the crisis they created.

“They would sooner send in the Navy at taxpayers’ expense and strip British people of hard-won rights by leaving the ECHR than admit they’re responsible.

“We can end small boat crossings and have a humane and cost-effective asylum system by joining the EU’s new pact.

“We should be proud of Britain’s history as a place of sanctuary for those fleeing persecution, and that must continue, but it needs to be safe and controlled for everyone – not via small boat crossings.”

The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum reforms how the bloc manages border security, processes asylum claims and shares responsibility for migrants.

It has been in place since June 12 this year and aims to make the system more efficient and stable, and to prevent secondary movements, where refugees move from the country they first arrived in.

The pact includes a new version of the Dublin Agreement called the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation, which introduces a new duty on asylum seekers to apply for asylum in the first country they enter.

The pact also includes measures such a mandatory screening and registration process, a more extensive Eurodac (European Asylum Dactyloscopy Database) system for tracking biometric data and new fast-track border procedures for nationals of countries with a low likelihood of being granted asylum.

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