Why There's No Such as a British Passport

I have been pursuing the fascinating issue of exactly why there is no ���British passport holders��� queue at UK ports of entry. Of course, the actual fundamental reason is that there is no such thing as a British Passport in general use.

 

First, here's the basic European Law dating from 23rd June 1981 which defines what an EU passport should look like, what it should contain:

 

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:41981X0919:EN:HTML

 

Note the primacy of 'European Community' later 'Union' in the format. 

  

Oddly enough some anomalous passports are issued by the British passport office to persons who have no right of abode in Britain, or who are not UK citizens for other reasons, which are British passports, but not EU passports (British Overseas territories, British Overseas Citizens, British Protected Persons) .  You wouldn���t want one of these, as it gives you no freedom to live here and is just a travel document. As it���s not an EU passport, it doesn���t have the words ���European Union��� on it, and it requires you, on entering the UK, to join the second-class queue.

 

This is because of

 

Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 establishing a Community Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code) [See amending act(s)].

 

The details of this are currently (but not for much longer) to be found here;

http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/justice_freedom_security/free_movement_of_persons_asylum_immigration/l14514_en.htm Soon you will only be able to find it at a site called EUR-Lex

 

The provision is as follows;

When crossing an external border, European Union (EU) citizens and other persons enjoying the right of free movement within the EU (such as the family members of an EU citizen) undergo a minimum check. This minimum check is carried out to establish their identity on the basis of their travel documents and consists of a rapid and straightforward verification of the validity of the documents and a check for signs of falsification or counterfeiting. Non-EU country nationals are subject to thorough checks. These comprise a verification of the conditions governing entry, including verification in the Visa Information System (VIS) and, if applicable, of documents authorising residence and the pursuit of a professional activity.

 

AS far as I can understand, this applies to the UK because we form part of the EU���s *external* border, even though we are not subject to the provisions of the Schengen agreement on internal borders. Government spokesmen seem to think so, and it makes sense to me.

Thus, a ���British passport��� queue would be open to non-EU citizens who hold British passports, who are subject to ���thorough checks���, and would therefore be against regulations for that reason alone.

It would also be a breach of the regulations which require two distinct forms of checks, one for EU passports and one for all others. A third queue, for ���British EU citizens��� is not legislated for and might well be found in the courts to breach the part of the law which says: ���When performing their duties, border guards must fully respect human dignity and may not discriminate against persons on grounds of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.���