Timothy Backs UK Government Immigration Policy
Strasbourg -- 16 November, 2011
In a radio interview with 5 Live today, I supported the government's immigration policy. As a former Home Office Minister myself, I was and have been acutely aware of immigration concerns and policy and have seen the face of border control change over the past decade.
I criticised Labour's disastrous performance in Government on immigration and border control and invited them to examine their own record rather than criticising Home Secretary Theresa May.
I emphasised how Britain's borders had to be controlled, and her people protected, in different ways: with physical policing and behind the scenes intelligence-led scrutiny and policy. Here is some of what I focused on:
"Since my time at the Home Office in the mid-90s the technology available to our border forces has developed enormously, as has the way the UK Border Agency operates.
"As far as I can make out from my enquiries, the limited pilot that was carried out this summer was more to do with targeting areas which intelligence suggested were producing possible criminals and terrorists.
"I think the Government has taken the view - and we certainly know about it here in Brussels - that border controls needed to be tightened up. The Government believes we needed to have a tougher immigration policy compared to the disastrous policies of the last Labour Government - one where we remove more people who are in the country illegally. That is something that is underway now. So, I would approve of the policy that the Government is pursuing."
