UK borders extend to Belgium
The UK looks set to extend its immigration borders to Eurostar terminals in Brussels.
The home secretary, David Blunket, will meet with Belgian interior minister Patrick Dewael in London today where a deal may well be finalised.
When signed the agreement will mean that UK immigration officials will be able to check papers and turn people away at the Eurostar terminal in Brussels, stopping them from boarding trains and seeking asylum in Britain.
A similar agreement already exists with France, which last year prevented 9,000 people arriving in the UK.
The French deal, signed in 2001, saw asylum applications at Eurostar’s London terminal drop by more than 90 per cent.
Immigration Service director of border control, David Roberts, commented: “It’s about getting ahead of the game.
“For a little while we have been exporting our frontier controls to where they are most needed.
“In 2001 there were many hundreds of people getting on the Eurostar without proper documents, and when they were dealt with by immigration officials on the train or at Waterloo they claimed asylum.
“We have reduced that by about 95 per cent. It’s a real success story and we want to extend that to Eurostar coming from Brussels.”
The measures are set to come into operation this summer.
