Is Sark a weakness in UK border security?

Friday 06 September 2019

Sark is a 'chink in the armour' of the UK Common Travel Area, and is allowing European ships into the country without them having to go through customs, it has been suggested.

A recent report by the Sark Newspaper tried to draw people's attention to how boats were already travelling from France to Sark, and they could bring whatever they wanted into the Area without any security to worry about.

This is because the island currently has no customs post or 'Port of Entry' for them to register with, so they did not have to pass any checks.

Therefore, the newspaper asserted, any goods they were carrying, illegal or not, were not being checked, and were entering the UK.

Pictured: A screenshot from the Sark Newspaper's August Edition, in which it published the article.

This all comes as part of a group in Sark lobbying to have a customs post installed on the island. They are arguing this would allow the island to open up its borders to more sailings, particularly from ferries directly from the mainland, and therefore boost its tourism industry.

Currently, for people to travel to Sark, they have to legally come via Guernsey because of the way customs is set up, just as how islanders have to go to certain ports in France to register with customs before sailing to their destination.

The group against having their own customs post are arguing that they do not want direct ships to Sark because it would threaten the island's security.

Pictured: Travellers can visit Sark by sea without having to pass any Customs check.

Kevin Delaney, the Editor of the Sark Newspaper, wrote: "Anyone who argues that Sark's borders are secure are either deluding themselves or prone to telling lies. Last Saturday morning numerous people made the short journey directly from the West Coast of France into Sark.

"They did not pass any Customs check. Any freight they were carrying, legal or illegal, entered Sark, and with it, the UK Common Travel Area with impunity.

"Week in and week out boats travel to and from France into Sark and no one knows how many passengers are on them, let alone where the passengers they are carrying have orginated from or where they are heading. Their freight, be it cheese, wine, illegal drugs or guns, can enter the [UK] free from the border checks that are vigorously enforced across the rest of the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, England, Scotland, Wales, Norther Ireland, or the Republic of Ireland.

"Sark has been and remains the chink in the armour of the UK Common Travel Area."

As an island with its own government, court and police force, Mr Delaney said there was no reason why Sark shouldn't have its own customs officers as well.

Legally, for Sark to have a Port of Entry, Chief Pleas would need to make some changes to the law, a move that the newspaper say would "bring enormous economic benefits" because of the direct access to mainland Europe.