Troubled UK Border Agency to be split in two
Theresa May's speech suggested Scotland would be more exposed to the risk of terrorist attacks if independent. Picture: AP
The troubled UK Border Agency will be split in two after hundreds of thousands of people were let into the UK without being checked against a Home Office watch list, Home Secretary Theresa May has announced.
The investigation into the relaxation of border checks last year found that confusion, poor record-keeping and ambiguous instructions were rife in the UKBA, and border force staff were acting without ministerial approval.
John Vine, independent chief inspector of the UKBA, found that about 500,000 Eurostar passengers had boarded trains in France and arrived in the UK without being checked against the warnings index of suspected terrorists and those with adverse immigration histories.
He also found that border security checks had been suspended regularly and applied inconsistently since at least 2007.
One scheme at London’s Heathrow Airport let students from supposedly low-risk countries in even when they did not have the necessary entry clearance in a move seen as both “potentially discriminatory and unlawful”.
The Home Secretary said: “The Vine report reveals a border force that suspended important checks without permission; that spent millions on new technologies but chose not to use them; that was led by managers who did not communicate with their staff; and that sent reports to ministers that were inaccurate, unbalanced and excluded key information.”
The border force “needs a whole new management culture”, Mrs May said. “There is no getting away from the fact that UKBA, of which the border force is part, has been a troubled organisation since it was founded in 2008. From foreign national prisoners to the asylum backlog to the removal of illegal immigrants, it has reacted to a series of problems instead of positively managing its responsibilities.”
Its work was “too great for one organisation”, she said, adding that, from next month, the UK border force would be split from UKBA and become “a separate operational command, with its own ethos of law enforcement, led by its own director general, and accountable directly to ministers”.
Wiltshire Police Chief Constable Brian Moore will head the new force after his predecessor Brodie Clark was suspended and then quit his 40-year career in the Home Office last November amid the row over lax border security.
Mr Clark admitted using guidance designed for health and safety emergencies to suspend fingerprint checks at the UK’s ports, actions which had no ministerial authorisation, but accused Mrs May of blaming him for “political convenience”.
He insisted he was “no rogue officer” and launched a constructive dismissal case in which he could receive £135,000.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The report shows that instructions from the Home Secretary’s office were unclear, whilst the immigration minister authorised relaxed checks in January 2011, without asking the Home Secretary, which were then implemented by the UKBA.”
Ms Cooper added: “The Home Secretary is still passing the buck. Unless she recognises the responsibility of minister she will fail to prevent future fiascos, and she will fail to keep our borders secure.”
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Comments
There are 17 comments to this article
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allymax
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 10:34 PMThis is what John Vine's 'agency' does; ..............." The UK border agency has raided a college in Gateshead that it suspects is being used for immigration crime.Five people were arrested yesterday in a series of raids targeting Castle College, Gateshead, the UK Border Agency said.The college, which offers language, business and computing courses, also had its licence to enroll overseas students suspended.The arrests include four senior staff members at the college, who were held on suspicion of using the college to facilitate immigration offences. The other person arrested was a student suspected of breaching the terms of her visa.A substantial amount of cash was also seized from a safe at the college, the Border Agency said.The Border Agency also said staff were on site yesterday to "assist any genuine students arriving for their studies".A spokesman for the college said it would be open for business again tomorrow and the arrested staff members had all been released on bail. " ...................John Vines' 'agency' was created under section 48 of the UK Borders Act 2007, of which, has the power to go into any Scottish public institution, (including Holyrood, St,Andrews house, and Bute house), and arrest who-ever they want; John Vine's powers extends to private accommodation also. ................Scotland must, and I mean must, make sure they never let John Vine back into Scotland; he will do Scotland a lot of harm if he gets the chance.
allymax
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 09:02 PMJohn Vine is Common Purpose; he got a medal for grievous bodily harm on dozens upon dozens of peaceful Scottish protestors. Vine is not Scottish, and that's why he was 'parachuted-in' to the cop job in Dundee. Vine couldn't care less what happens to Scots; he's like all the other Westminster troughers; he thinks Scots are only available to make him rich, and esteemed in the eyes of Westminster politicians and lords. ....This is a Common Purpose spy in the Scots camp. He's evil beyond recognition. he'll do, and say anything Westminster want him to. I mean, for God's sake, think about it. He's Bliar's personal friend. He got a medal for 'spilling Scots blood'. He 'massaged' an exorbitant 'pay-bonus out of the Dundee tax-payers, and ordered councillor MacInstosh to shut-up, or else! John Vine is next climb aboard the Westminster trougher gravy train, and he's got all the right Tory credentials to do it too. He's already in th history books as 'spilling Scots blood', he's sold his soul to the Westminster devil for riches and esteem, he's lied for the last 4 years about the problems with immigration and criminals coming into the country, because that's what Labour wanted him to do, and now he's switched allegiances to Tory, he's writing the reports they want him to do it. ..John Vine is not a decent person; he's a Westminster acolyte; that says it all. Nasty evil man.
invictager
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 05:04 PM#14 What makes you think a career as an army officer makes someone suitable to check passports are genuine? Do you expect them to shoot them if they are not. About as clever a comment as your claim we only have 4 Scots in the squad just because lots of them play in England.
Faceless_bureaucrat
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 04:39 PMI'll will believe the UK government is serious about borders when they appoint ex army officers and get rid Common Purpose trained civil servants.
gezm62
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 01:54 PMMemo to all the nats talking out of their bum. The guy in charge who was responsible for ordering the relaxation of controls is a Scot. Do you plan to hire him to take charge of your new border?
CASHKING7
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 01:45 PMJust stop any immigration for the time it takes this country to get back on it's feet, that also includes stopping free passage for any EU member, we cannot afford them !!!!
Willie Boy
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 01:37 PMAh well they'll have something to do when they set up there border controls between Scotland and England if the Scots decide to choose independence. I can't wait.
Intervention
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 08:14 AMAnd we are supposed to trust this lot with Scotland's security?.........................another Unionist Myth scotched.
Alicia Murray
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 08:02 AMIs this the department that the ConDems are threatening us with? English civil service no longer fit for purpose. How can it be when heads of departments no longer pay taxes and broadly the same conditions as their more junior colleagues? When the head of a government department has no loyalty to the country they belong to and work for, you get the completely over paid, incompetent and unfit for purpose civil service that is currently running Britain.
douglas-home rule
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 07:09 AMThere they will be after Independence, locked up safe in their wee Island of England, surounded by border guards, safe from the nasty Continentals and us Scots. God bless 'um!
aberdingdong
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 06:49 AMUnbelievable....something these crowd are actually getting right. The fact that the country is already well and truly screwed is by the by I suppose. Oh no...lock me up...I must be a racist. Whatever!
allymax
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 02:22 AMhe's an evil, evil man. take my word for it.
allymax
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 02:21 AMobviously the name John Vine has an instant trigger! ...Not to worry, when Scotland is independent, I'l be writing all about him.
allymax
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 02:20 AMPending Moderation
allymax
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 02:17 AMPending Moderation
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