Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill on (a) free movement within the Common Travel Area and (b) the land border.

The Common Travel Area (CTA) supports the long-standing principle of free movement for British and Irish citizens between the UK, Ireland and the Crown Dependencies (Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man) and has been recognised in law since the 1920s.

In support of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement there is no hard border and no immigration controls between Northern Ireland and Ireland and as part of the wider CTA arrangements the UK does not operate routine immigration controls on journeys made within the CTA.

The details of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill and the assessment of the Bill’s impact will be set out in due course.