Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-03-24-Speech-2-482"
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"en.20090324.36.2-482"2
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"Madam President, it comes as no surprise to hear Baroness Ludford of the Euro-fanatic Liberal Democrat party wanting to harmonise yet another area of what should be sovereign national policy. Why on earth would any EU Member State want a common system for the application and processing of visas for third-party nationals? Deciding who can and cannot enter a nation state should be the sole concern of the nation state – except that, in the minds of the Euro-fanatics, European nation states no longer exist, having been replaced by the great EU borderless state.
Since 1997, about 6 million migrants have entered the UK. About 4 million have left, leaving a net population increase of over 2 million. The current immigration rate to Britain now results in a net population gain of over 200 000 people per year – or a net population gain of over 1 million people every five years. This is equivalent to a new city the size of Birmingham. Most of these migrants enter legally, because they are EU citizens. In addition to that, we probably have one million illegal immigrants. England is one of the most densely populated countries in the world – more densely populated than India, China or Japan. On current trends, our population of 61 million is set to rise to 75 million by 2051, and is projected to rise to 85 million by 2081.
What we need is to leave the European Union and regain control of our borders. Having done that, we need to decide which countries’ citizens we allow in, with or without a visa. There are many Member States in the EU whose citizens should not be allowed into Britain without a visa. What Britain needs is a strict visa system so that we can decide who we allow into our country and who we do not. What we do not need is a system devised by the European Union.
I expect that its advocates would justify it as merely introducing common criteria and processes to make everything run more smoothly. However, it might have some unintended consequences. Look at another example of EU legislation championed by the Liberal Democrats. The European arrest warrant means that British citizens accused of a crime by other EU Member States cannot now be protected by British courts or even the Home Secretary, even when it is obvious that a grave injustice is being done. Any corrupt legal system may now demand the surrender of a British citizen, and we have to comply. We have surrendered the right to protect our own citizens. Soon we will have trials
and the common recognition of fines and confiscation orders. All this was voted for and welcomed by the Liberal Democrats. These measures overturn the most basic freedoms enjoyed by the English for centuries, as enshrined in Magna Carta and the 1689 Bill of Rights.
This afternoon, Graham Watson, leader of the Liberal Democrats, urged Gordon Brown to take Britain into the European single currency, which is something that anyone in touch with the real world would know is economic suicide. Now the Liberal Democrat fanatics want us to embrace a common system for the application of visas. When the London voters become aware of Baroness Ludford’s position on these issues, hopefully they will grant her a one-way visa out of the European Parliament in the European elections on 4 June 2009."@en1
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