NI Border Force hiring policy farcical nonsense: MP

Gavin Robinson said it is just part of the “farcical” way in which the whole hiring programme has been handled, and pledged to raise the matter with the new Home Office minister directly.

The MP for East Belfast was commenting after it emerged a day earlier that the Home Office is applying different rules to job applicants from Northern Ireland and those from Great Britain when it comes to hiring border officers.

It is currently seeking to fill 16 posts in Northern Ireland, and 550 across England, Wales and Scotland.

The government’s job advertisements state that applicants for both regions should have at least two A levels or have previously been a Border Force officer for two years.

However, if applicants in Great Britain do not meet these criteria, the government says that they can still apply so long as they used to be police officers or members of the armed forces.

This military/police background clause does not apply in Northern Ireland.

TUV leader Jim Allister has already written to the Home Office “demanding to know why experience in the police or British Armed Forces would qualify someone for a post in Great Britain but not in Northern Ireland”.

Now adding his voice to calls for an explanation is Mr Robinson, who said: “I think the handling of Border Force posts in Northern Ireland has been nothing short of farcical.

“I look forward to meeting with the new home secretary to discuss a range of issues, including this nonsensical position.”

He said he will also seek answers through Parliament.

The Home Office has advised that the UK Border Force is an equal opportunity employer and that candidates for advertised posts are selected on the skills set necessary to carry out the duties of the post. It has not addressed why the criteria is different between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

It comes mere weeks after the Home Office was under fire over the same job adverts for different reasons.

Originally the posts were advertised as being open only to British passport holders. Following an outcry from nationalists (with the SDLP calling it “exclusionary and chilling” and Sinn Fein dubbing it “naked discrimination”), the Home Office said it had made an “error”.

Today the criteria for the jobs – in both Northern Ireland and Great Britain – state that applicants must simply have “a full and valid passport” (without specifying that it must be British), or else must be able to show evidence of UK nationality.

In the wake of this, Mr Robinson had asked if the Border Force had changed its stance to “no longer to require its employees across the UK to be British citizens”.

The government responded that these jobs are “reserved for UK nationals” and “there has been no policy change to this”.