Pledge of action on airport queues

The UK government has promised action to deal with “too long” queues at Heathrow Airport, but blamed the rain for recent troubles and insisted claims of two-hour waits were a “wild” exaggeration.

Immigration minister Damian Green launched a robust defence of performance at the UK’s busiest airport, as London mayor Boris Johnson joined mounting criticism. He said visitors were being given “a terrible impression of the UK”.

Despite efforts by border chiefs to prevent passengers taking pictures of queues, social media sites were full with complaints about excessive waits.

Labour forced Mr Green to the Commons to account for the problems. He said the “vast majority” of passengers were processed quickly and that it was important not to compromise border security.