The #Ukip 'Securing Our Borders' Mantra, Busted.

It's a very standard Ukip catchphrase, and a very good soundbite for TV: 'Securing Our Borders'.

It suggests that our security is damaged by the inability to stop EU nationals from migrating at will to the UK.

And it's at worst, wrong .. at best, debatable but irrelevant.

Four good reasons:

1. If we left the EU, we surely would not bar EU nationals from visiting or studying in the UK.
   
   Migrating? Living? Working? Maybe. (Perhaps they would qualify anyway, under this mythical 'Points System; that Ukip mention but fail to detail.)
   
   So if there is a security threat from EU nationals - or anyone given temporary right to move within EU nations (and that's a debatable 'if') then it can only be countered by a complete ban on all movement of all EU Nationals to the UK for any reason. Any reason at all. Which may well be desirable to Ukip .. but not to our Tourist Industry, our Educational Establishments and our entire Economy.
    
2. The best way to deal with the security threat is co-operation with other European Agencies. This is on-going, and will not be affected either way by Brexit.
   
   And if we continue to be a part of this, by the way, we need to part-fund it, like the many other European / EU Organisations we actually want to be a part of: which also puts the 'getting back all our EU cash' Myth into the long grass.
    
3. To say we cannot deport EU nationals is false. We do not have to allow criminals into the UK. Any EU citizen can be refused entry to any EU nation if they are considered to be a threat, any kind of threat. How do we know if they're a threat? By co-operation with other EU nations, of course.
   
   Ukip of course know this, but they continue to propagate the lie, which is a very Ukip thing.
   
   We have the right to deport them, too, for many reasons.
   
   The fact that the current Government do not put the required resources in to do so, is clearly not the fault of the EU.
    
4. If Ukip or Brexiteers consider that entry to the UK for EU Nationals without a visa is a security risk, consider this:
   
   57 non-EU Nations - with over 1.1 billion residents - have the right to visa-free travel to the UK. These are often from nations with whose Security Services we have little organizational information exchange; so often, no or little data on the threat that each individual may pose, and no background checks.
   
   It seems that Ukip want a full background check and security clearance on, say, someone from Portugal - but are happy for a Botswanan or El Salvadorian to saunter through. Ukip don't want visa-free travel for a Frenchman - but a Malaysian or Namibian can walk right on in.
   
   This policy, of course, is nothing to do with the EU and is the responsibility of the UK Government in toto.

Nations who's citizens can just come to the UK without a visa.

So the 'security threat' that Ukip mention in relation to visa-free EU travel, if genuine, needs to be extended (on Ukip's logic) to ...

... every nation on the planet, apparently.

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