Passport control

The Evening Standard has drawn attention in a special investigation to the ease with which it is possible to purchase false identity documents in London. As we also revealed, some 400 people are detained every month at Heathrow alone for being in possession of stolen or forged passports.

This trade costs the British economy some £1.3 billion a year. Of course, it is reassuring to learn that the police and immigration authorities have apprehended some at least of the people who are entering Britain on false passports. But as anyone who has returned to Britain from holiday knows, the number of occasions when passport officials actually scrutinise travel documents is remarkably rare.

The rule is for travellers with an EU passport to breeze through controls with, at most, a cursory inspection. If 400 people with stolen passports are being apprehended, there are very many more who enter Britain unchallenged. More sophisticated methods for apprehending people bearing false documents are therefore necessary and the technology now favoured for this and many other purposes is biometric controls.

This involves the use of machines to scan an individual's biological identity, chiefly by the recognition of the unique iris of the eye. Such machines will be introduced at ten British airports within a year. Of course, such a move involves inconvenience and raises real questions concerning our civil liberties. But it is a price worth paying if fraud is to be prevented at immigration control.