There may be a case for the UK Border Agency knowing which individuals they haven't seen leaving, but that's a completely different question to the government having accurate statistics.
I guess the key difference about exit controls would be whether you can overstay then leave without anyone knowing that you overstayed. There are pluses and minuses for that if you're trying to reduce overstaying, because making it easy for overstayers to self-deport helps the government get rid of them, but there's more incentive to do it in the first place if you can get out without prejudicing your future ability to get in.
Given they scan everyone's passports couldn't they just link it up automatically?
Are they scanning everyone's passports when you leave the country now? I guess the airlines do it as part of airline security, but did they start doing that at ports / EuroStar?
Was thinking about entry.
On exit the airlines do it, but don't know about ferries.
There may be a case for the UK Border Agency knowing which individuals they haven't seen leaving, but that's a completely different question to the government having accurate statistics.
I guess the key difference about exit controls would be whether you can overstay then leave without anyone knowing that you overstayed. There are pluses and minuses for that if you're trying to reduce overstaying, because making it easy for overstayers to self-deport helps the government get rid of them, but there's more incentive to do it in the first place if you can get out without prejudicing your future ability to get in.
Given they scan everyone's passports couldn't they just link it up automatically?
Are they scanning everyone's passports when you leave the country now? I guess the airlines do it as part of airline security, but did they start doing that at ports / EuroStar?
Was thinking about entry.
On exit the airlines do it, but don't know about ferries.
That's the point, you can't measure net migration without knowing about the exit numbers as well.
If I'm reading it right they're going to be scanning nearly everybody's passports eventually, but it's still not trivial turning that into meaningful data, so ministers intend to yell at people and buy some sort of software.
Comments
On exit the airlines do it, but don't know about ferries.
Lab: 108
Con: 98
UKIP: 44
LD: 35
Greens: 5
Plaid Cymru: 5
Total: 295
Forest of Dean
Norfolk North
Sittingbourne & Sheppey
The next selection after that is Broxtowe on 3rd August.
If I'm reading it right they're going to be scanning nearly everybody's passports eventually, but it's still not trivial turning that into meaningful data, so ministers intend to yell at people and buy some sort of software.
Any sign of Japan changing its draconian immigration rules in response to a declining population?