Border Agency to be split in two
Comments |
by Martin Jefferies
As many as half-a-million people entered the UK through Kent
without being checked against a list of suspected terrorists and
criminals, it has been revealed.
Vital security checks against the Home Office Warnings
Index - a database of people banned from entering the
country - were not completed on around 500,000 Eurostar
passengers since 2007.
The same checks were suspended at Calais and Coquelles more than
130 times. On one occasion, they were relaxed for more than six
hours.
The figures were revealed as the Home Secretary said the UK
Border Agency needs a "whole new management culture".
Theresa May addressed parliament following a report published
today into the relaxation of security.
The investigation was carried out by John Vine, the independent
chief inspector of the UK Border Agency .
He found Eurostar passengers from within the EU who travelled to
the UK on trains from Disneyland Paris and seasonal services
from Avignon and Bourg-Saint-Maurice were not routinely
checked.
Only those fitting a "targeted profile" and passengers from
outside the EU were checked against the Warnings Index. Mr Vine
said that was of "considerable concern".
The checks
at Calais and Coquelles - immigration checks are carried out
before passengers arrive in the UK - were suspended to prevent
emergencies, overcrowding or to ease congestion on roads leading to
the ports.
Mr Vine said there was "a lack of effective management oversight
of the frequency with which checks had been suspended, the reasons
for this and which ports were suspending checks".
"Had this been in place, it would have enabled the UK Border
Agency to reduce the number of suspensions of these important
checks," he added.
In Ms May's speech to MPs yesterday, she said there needs to be
a new set of guidelines for border control, detailing the minimum
level of mandatory checks.
She announced the UK Border Force will be split from the Border
Agency and become accountable to ministers.
She also said that UK border controls have been inconsistently
policed for at least the last five years, adding that border staff
went "over and beyond" any scheme approved by ministers to relax
checks.
Tuesday, February 21 2012
The KM Group does not moderate comments.
Please click here for our house rules.