Talk to me, border chief urges public (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Talk to me, border chief urges public

7:43am Wednesday 4th April 2007 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
•  

During the recent travails involving the Home Office, it was the immigration part of the department that Home Secretary John Reid declared was "not fit for purpose".

So the appointment of a regional director for the new Border Immigration Agency, covering the North East, Yorkshire and Humberside, brings with it some weighty expectations.

Chris Hudson is the man who will cover this huge district, beginning at the Scottish borders and taking in the whole of Yorkshire and the Humber. It is one of six such regional agencies - employing a total of 18,000 civil servants managing all the various aspects of immigration in the UK.

Chris Hudson is a career civil servant. He has worked in the Home Office for more than 30 years. As he has spent most of his working life in London what qualifies him to oversee immigration in an area as huge as the North East, Yorkshire and Humberside?

"Leave London and fall over," quipped Lin Homer, his boss who was present at his public debut yesterday in Leeds.

"You'll have to judge me by results," said Mr Hudson. "Talking to people, listening to people, is how I will get a better understanding of local issues. I and the people who work in the region need to be talking to people who work in the community so that we get a better picture. We can try to make sure that we operate this system effectively to reflect this concern."

Since the days of Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speech in 1968 the focus of immigration has changed somewhat radically.

Forty years ago there was public concern about what was perceived to be unrestrained immigration from the Indian Sub-Continent. Now by far the largest flow into the UK is from the European Union.

What difference is the BIA going to make to stop illegal immigrants coming in and then using the Human Rights Act to stop being sent out?

Before Mr Hudson had a chance to answer, his boss Lin Homer provided a long answer about maintaining balance and cutting the time to process immigration applications. As long as there is freedom of movement for all EU nationals, can the BIA can do anything to prevent ever growing numbers coming into the UK.

Ms Homer leapt in again, talking about the importance of Britain maintaining its obligations as a member of the EU. A flow of EU citizens with the legal right to be here was beneficial to the economy.

She indicated that priority would be given to EU citizens seeking lower skilled jobs priority over applicants from other parts of the world whose skills are now graded by a points system.

Mr Hudson's branch of the BIA employs some 2,300 staff. If the other five regional offices have the same that means there are upward of 13,000 civil servants trying to prevent the UK from filling up with hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants.

That's when he managed to get in first, saying: "There are 18,000 civil servants looking after immigration. It has all been managed in London, so it's got to be better," he said, referring to the new regional set up. In response to a question about a particular case where an asylum seeker had hanged himself rather than face deportation, Lin Homer said commenting on individual cases was not policy.

However, every effort was made to ensure that applications were dealt with fairly but firmly, preferably with the co-operation of applicants. But after all the checks had been made and the legal procedures had been observed the law still had to be implemented, she said.

People not entitled to be here would be helped to leave. Mr Hudson served as private secretary to the Immigration Minister in the mid-Eighties and private secretary to the Home Secretary in the Nineties.

In 1996, after joining the Senior Civil Service, he oversaw the project to set up the National Criminal Intelligence Service. In 1998 he prepared a White Paper on immigration and asylum.

e-mail: jim.greenhalf@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

• Start or join a debate on this issue in our online forum - Click here