Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking under the 2003 Le Touquet accord to ensure that UK border controls are conducted on French soil.

Juxtaposed Controls were introduced for short sea crossings by the “Treaty Between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the French Republic Concerning the Implementation of Frontier Controls at the Sea ports of Both Countries on the Channel and North Sea”, signed at Le Touquet on 4 February 2003.

The Le Touquet Treaty is a bilateral agreement and provides for immigration controls to be conducted by the country of arrival in designated control zones in the country of departure at both French and UK sea ports on the Channel and North Sea, including Calais and Dunkirk in France, and Dover in the UK.

Both countries have in recent discussions reaffirmed their commitment to the agreement and to the continued effective management of our shared border in Northern France.