Scotland may need passport control

Feb 20 2012

Scotland may have to establish passport controls at the English border if it votes for independence, the UK's Europe Minister has said.

David Lidington said Scotland would not necessarily inherit the UK's opt-out of the Schengen Agreement which permits freedom of movement around most of Europe.

The opt-out means EU citizens are still subject to passport checks at UK borders.

Mr Lidington visited the Scottish Parliament to discuss developments in the eurozone with MSPs.

Speaking in a post-committee briefing, he said opt-outs like Schengen, and also of the euro currency, "require not just a bilateral agreement between the UK and an independent Scotland, it would require the agreement of all of the other member states as well".

He said: "The fact that the UK has an opt-out from Schengen means that we are able to maintain the border controls that you don't have on the borders between Schengen countries.

"Logically, if Scotland were in Schengen, every Schengen country has to dismantle border checks with other Schengen countries, and have border checks with other EU states that are outside Schengen.

"That is why, for example, if I fly to Munich from London I have to go through a passport check before I can transit to a plane connecting to Poland.

"So there's a logic in the way that Schengen is organised, and that is a clear problem that Scotland would have to face up to."

He also warned that Scotland's membership of Europe is not "something that can simply be assumed", adding: "Membership is something which requires the unanimous agreement of every other member state... if Scotland wanted to leave the UK, and I hope she doesn't, she would probably want to be in the European Union. But that issomething that would have to be negotiated and would require the agreement of every member."