Downing Street Says » Bombing Investigation/Border Controls

Asked about security procedures for the Eurostar at Waterloo after a suspect in the London Bombing investigation was able to get to Italy, the PMS said that whilst we would be reviewing the circumstances of this individual case, it was important not to make too many comments about the individual case itself since extradition proceedings were currently underway. Asked if we would be looking again at passport checks at Waterloo, the PMS said that we did have passport checks at the point of departure. Questioned as to whether it would require any legislation to change the procedures and impose passport checks, the PMS said that her understanding was that these were operational decisions, to be taken by the police and immigration authorities. Asked if British officials would be checking passports at Waterloo, the PMS said yes.

Put to her that the UK had adopted the politics of sanctuary and thus created the conditions for extremism in this country ourselves, the PMS said that the UK had always aimed to be a tolerant society where people could live and express their views freely. At the same time we had always had laws to protect people and in fact there discussions going on now to see how we could take the law further. Put to her that we had had long time since 9/11 to design and implement such measures, the PMS said that the Prime Minister had said that he would prefer to have legislation that was correct, workable and effective rather rushing to introduce measures, which might not work effectively in the long term.

Asked about the Government’s attitude towards profiling of young men from certain ethnic backgrounds for police stop and search procedures, the PMS said that obviously these things had to be handled sensitively by those carrying out the searches.

2 Comments »

I remember the original "suss laws" – and if there was any other piece of legislation which caused so much resentment and aggressive response from young people of particular (some might say targetted) ehtnic groupings, I missed it… feed the fears of the populace and tighten the grip at the same time, great idea to lessen racial tension in the community, well done all! And if it all goes wrong, we can blame "those carrying out the searches" for not being "sensitive" enough – perfect!
Comment by auntyq — 1 Aug 2005 on 9:30 pm | Link
I remember the original "suss laws" – and if there was any other piece of legislation which caused so much resentment and aggressive response from young people of particular (some might say targetted) ehtnic groupings, I missed it… feed the fears of the populace and tighten the grip at the same time, great idea to lessen racial tension in the community, well done all! And if it all goes wrong, we can blame "those carrying out the searches" for not being "sensitive" enough – perfect!
Comment by auntyq — 1 Aug 2005 on 9:31 pm | Link

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» Monday, August 1, 2005

Bombing Investigation/Border Controls

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