MPs raise 'serious concerns' about £1.2billion border control project

12 April 2012

MPs raised major concerns today about the viability of a £1.2 billion Government programme to protect Britain from terrorism, cross-border crime and illegal immigration.

The e-Borders project aims to record the journey of every person travelling to and from the UK.

But the Home Affairs Select Committee said the Government is yet to resolve data protection problems.

Individual European Union members must agree to hand over passenger information before it can be collected.

The report warns that without their approval ministers could be forced to remove from the scheme all journeys within Europe involving a stop in Britain.

The UK Border Agency is also still negotiating with the European Commission over making e-Borders comply with EU rules on freedom of movement, the committee said.

The cross-party committee of MPs said it was "sceptical" whether those problems, and some technical ones involving the transmission of passenger data, would be resolved "swiftly".

Committee chairman Keith Vaz said it was taking the exceptional step of issuing a report because of the lack of progress by UKBA in recent months.

The committee also questioned whether officials would meet its target of summer next year for clearing the backlog of up to 450,000 asylum claims.

Mr Vaz said: "Despite the assurances given by the Government in their responses to our original reports, the subsequent evidence we have received reinforces and, in some areas, increases the concerns we had about UKBA at the end of last year.

"None of these issues will be resolved within the next few months, and all will have a serious impact on thousands of people.

"We can see that the Government is convinced that the e-Borders project is vital to the security of the UK's borders, in terms of combating illegal immigration, serious crime and terrorism.

"We have now run out of time in this Parliament to see a resolution to these problems, but that so many major difficulties with the programme remain to be resolved causes us serious concern."

Shadow immigration minister Damian Green said: "This is a very alarming report.

"In the last days of this Parliament, this part of the Home Office is still not fit for purpose. The e-Borders scheme is at the heart of immigration control, and it is clearly not performing.

"The evidence of a new backlog of asylum cases is equally disastrous. Ministers should be ashamed at these continuing failures."

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "We'll only have a Home Office that's fit for purpose if responsibility for asylum is taken away from it and given to a Canadian-style independent agency.

"The lack of exit checks has been the biggest hole in our porous borders for 16 years. We need them back immediately."

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