Passports are not needed to get into the UK from the islands

A Sunday national newspaper alleged that hundreds of illegal immigrants were coming through the islands and then slipping into the south of England completely unchallenged.

People travelling on to the UK from the Channel Islands do not need a passport.

But the former president of Guernsey's Population and Migration Committee, Deputy Dave Barrett, said the allegations were unnecessarily alarmist.

He said there was no reason for people seeking asylum in the UK to use the Channel Islands.

Single force

"If I wanted to get into the UK I would take a private boat to somewhere like Ilfracombe or Porlock - sparsely populated and quite close to the M5 - getting into the UK in one step.

"Why would you do it through the Channel Islands?"

UK politician Simon Hughes has called for Jersey to have one single border force to help stop illegal immigrants using the island as a way into Britain.

Liberal Democrats Home Affairs spokesman Mr Hughes said one single body checking who arrived in the island would be better for Jersey.

Mr Hughes said one body replacing the police, customs and immigration at the island's borders could help cut the number of illegal immigrants.

But Jersey's chief immigration officer, Emile Vautier, does not believe many illegal immigrants are using the island as a stepping stone to the UK.