The only way is Swiss: how we can regain control of our borders

Switzerland has not always had a good press. In Carol Reed’s 1949 classic The Third Man, the villainous Harry Lime derides the country as a dreary irrelevance: “500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”

But we should not be so quick to dismiss the track record of the Alpine fortress.

In the modern era, Switzerland has emerged as the one of the richest countries in the world in terms of wealth per head of population: its average wage of around £60,000 a year is more than twice that of the UK.

Despite its small size – just 8 million people – Switzerland is the 20th largest exporter on earth and the EU's third largest trading partner; independent experts say its economy surpasses all others in terms of competitiveness and innovation. Our economy may be recovering but we have along way to go to match the Swiss.

In one huge respect, Switzerland differs from Britain. It has refused to join the European Union.

Twice in the last 20 years, in the referendums that are a regular feature of its political life, its people have voted to maintain their national independence.

And that is why, unlike Britain, the bars and cafés of Zurich and Geneva do not echo to the sound of people agonising over the prospect of another unfettered wave of immigration.

Since it is outside the EU, Switzerland is not bound by the union's fundamental principle: that workers should be free to move to any corner of its 28 member states.

Switzerland controls its own borders while maintaining friendly relations with its European neighbours, and trades freely and profitably with them. We need an immigration policy modelled on the Swiss arrangements.

But, because we are a member of the EU, we have been forced to surrender control of our own borders and we are powerless to halt a new wave of immigration from Romania and Bulgaria when the transitional controls on these EU citizens are lifted on January 1.

The result of our open door policy is the arrival of 157,000 EU immigrants on our shores every year, while Commonwealth citizens with established family ties in Britain are struggling to obtain visas to come here.

No one knows for certain how many Romanians and Bulgarians will head for the UK from the beginning of January. Some experts, like MigrationWatch, predict 50,000 but it could be more. The omens are not good for our overcrowded island.

The minimum wage in both Romania and Bulgaria is around £1 per hour, less than a sixth of the £6.31 rate in the Britain, not to mention the generous welfare system in place to top up low pay, which will be available to immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria just 12 weeks after arrival.

There is significant uncertainty as to how many of the 2.5 million Roma community from the two countries will make the trip come January. They are a heavily persecuted minority and will have no qualms in seeking a better life offered in Britain.

An overwhelming 80 per cent of the British public want the UK Government to maintain control over the number of Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants allowed to enter the UK. It looks set to be a defining issue going into the European elections in 2014 and the UK general election in 2015.

It is a difficult situation for the Government, in that Britain has relinquished so much of its power to the EU that any attempt to control immigration from EU Member States would be in breach of EU law and Britain would be subject to lengthy legal proceedings.

I have written extensively in my book Time to Jump: A Positive Vision of a Britain Out of the EU and in EEA Lite, about how the UK would thrive by negotiating an "out" deal with the EU which would safeguard jobs, preserve free trade and cut costs.

With the threat of uncontrolled mass immigration from Romania and Bulgaria from 2014 and the prospect of Turkey’s 79 million population being given the right to work in the EU, it is becoming clearer by the day that it is time Britain waved goodbye to Brussels.

By leaving this undemocratic superstate, and adopting what I call an "EEA Lite" arrangement, one that sits between Switzerland and Norway, Britain can implement a more balanced and tightly controlled immigration policy, similar to the Swiss system. A focus on “Freedom of Workers” instead of “Freedom of Peoples” would end benefit tourism and abuse of the UK welfare system.

For example, in April 2012, the Swiss Government invoked a safeguard clause in its 1999 bilateral treaty with the EU for the free movement of people. This enabled the Swiss to set immigration quotas to ensure that the country admitted only the workers it needed. The EU's Baroness Ashton attacked the measure as a violation of free movement but the safeguard is enshrined in EU-Swiss agreements.

"B" resident permits for people from Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia as well as the three Baltic Republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were limited to just 2,180 for a period of at least 12 months.

The "B" permits allow people with an employment contract or who are self-employed to stay in Switzerland for at least five years. Citizens from the group of 15 EU member states, including Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Spain and Portugal, were able to continue to benefit from unrestricted access to the labour market in Switzerland.

But in May this year, the Swiss Government moved to tighten the immigration tap, extending restrictions to the 17 older EU member states, setting a cap of 53,700 for 12 months.

All immigration from Romania and Bulgaria, two of the newer EU members, is severely restricted and will remain so for years to come.

From mid-2014 the safeguard clause becomes invalid and Switzerland is set to hold two referendums to ask their people whether they want to continue to limit immigration.

If we followed the Swiss example, automatic access for all EU Member States to the UK employment market and welfare state would end and Britain would be able to introduce controls on long-term residence permits for different EU nations.

A sensible way forward would be for Britain to adopt a strict quota regime for newer EU member states (including Romania and Bulgaria) while having a more open policy to the older more established members (including France and Germany). This echoes some of what Theresa May has proposed for renegotiation.

In order to ensure short-term residence continues, particularly to fill seasonal employment gaps, caps would not be necessitated. Access to benefits for short-term residents would however be restricted, unless they had made the relevant contributions towards the British economy to justify otherwise.

Establishing a Swiss-style immigration system would enable Britain to rapidly reduce the significant strain it is currently under when it comes to public services, housing and infrastructure.

The UK has been subject to mass uncontrolled immigration from the EU for too long. According to the latest ONS figures, we have had more immigrants (7.5 million) in the last 10 years than in the previous 50 years.

The British people want their government to restore control over their borders. Switzerland offers a working model of how this can be done. But we also need to recognise the difficulties in renegotiating with Brussels one of its key foundation stones – the free movement of people.

The only way is Swiss. But to make that journey, we will have to quit the EU.

David Campbell Bannerman is the Conservative MEP for East of England.

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