Britain on Thursday outlined new border rules to prevent the entry of serious criminals from EU countries, once the country is free of the bloc’s rules allowing people to move freely among member states.
The interior ministry said foreign criminals sentenced to more than a year in jail will be banned from entering the UK, closing a loophole that it said had allowed some convicts from the European Union to come and go.
The changes will come into force on January 1, when Britain will no longer fall under EU rules following its Brexit divorce earlier this year.
“For too long, EU rules have forced us to allow dangerous foreign criminals, who abuse our values and threaten our way of life, onto our streets,” Home Secretary Priti Patel said in a statement.
“The UK will be safer thanks to firmer and fairer border controls where foreign criminals regardless of nationality will be subject to the same criminality rules,” she said.
Patel’s ministry said EU rules currently require it to show that EU criminals present a “genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat” before their free movement rights can be restricted, even if they were convicted of murder or rape.
The new rule will put criminals from both EU and non-EU countries on the same footing, it said, although critics have accused the UK government of using EU strictures as an excuse for its own lax border enforcement.
EU criminals sentenced to less than a year could still be banned, but will be considered on a case-by-case basis, the ministry said.