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Home Office in the media

This blog post was published under the 2015-2024 Conservative Administration

https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/2020/01/06/home-office-in-the-media-monday-6-january/

Home Office in the media: Monday 6 January

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Leading stories

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Today's top story includes coverage of foreign national offenders.

Foreign national offenders

The Home Secretary is quoted in today’s Mail as saying she will introduce tougher border controls post-Brexit to make it harder for foreign criminals to enter the UK.

The Mail reports that in the past three years more than 2,000 “serious offenders” have been arrested after arriving in the UK "unhindered".

The newspaper says the convictions of the foreign nationals emerged after police officers who arrested them requested records from their home countries. The Mail reports that some of the criminals arrived under EU freedom of movement rules, while others did not declare previous convictions due to visa waiver programmes with “trusted” countries, including the US and Canada.

The Home Secretary is quoted as saying Brexit gives the UK an “opportunity to bring in the robust border security the British people demand".

The statement adds that when freedom of movement ends, the Government will:

  • impose tougher criminality checks
  • stop accepting easily forged European ID cards
  • introduce an electronic travel authorisation system to pre-screen travellers.

The Mail obtained the figures from the Criminal Records Office (ACRO) through an FOI request.

The Home Secretary’s full statement can be found below

Home Secretary Priti Patel said:

Brexit gives us a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bring in the robust border security the British people demand.

When free movement ends, we will impose tougher criminality checks, stop accepting easily forged European ID cards and introduce an electronic travel authorisation system to pre-screen travellers.

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