Border control plans dismissed as 'gimmick'

Monday, 24 July 2006 12:00 AM

Opposition MPs last night branded plans to put passport control officers into uniforms at ports and airports a "gimmick" that would do little to help tackle illegal immigration.

Home secretary John Reid is tomorrow expected to announce plans to put frontline immigration staff into uniform, to deter people trying to come into Britain illegally.

Reports suggest he will also pledge to double the funding to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) from £140 million to £280 million within three years.

The plans come as part of a week of announcements on how the Home Office will be transferred from being "not fit for purpose", as Mr Reid dismissed it in May, to a more streamlined and effective department.

Speaking to GMTV yesterday, the home secretary insisted the Labour government had made great progress on tackling illegal immigration and had also secured a 72 per cent reduction in the number of people seeking asylum in Britain.

"But we need to do more and I intend to do more because next week what I want to do is to strengthen the resources for our border enforcement. We need a better, more forceful, more effective, more visible border enforcement," he said.

However, shadow home secretary David Davis dismissed the suggestion of a new uniform for border officials, insisting that what was needed was separate border control police charged specifically with dealing with illegal immigration.

"This is a cosmetic gimmick designed to persuade the public that action is being taken when the necessary serious action is being baulked at," he said.

"What is necessary is a properly constituted and powerful border control police making use of all possible manpower to maximum effect to protect our borders and with it public safety."

His Liberal Democrat counterpart, Nick Clegg, was similarly sceptical - while his party had long called for an integrated border police, he warned the new proposals "must amount to more than a repackaging of customs officials in new uniforms".

"There needs to be a wholesale consolidation of the agencies presently responsible for customs, border control and transport policing into one integrated border force," he said.

John Denham, the Labour chairman of the home affairs select committee, welcomed reports of extra funding of the IND, but insisted there must be a change in the way the money was spent.

Yesterday, the committee published a report warning that while tougher border controls would help tackle illegal immigration, the decisions about people who were already in the country and the enforcement of immigration rules must also be prioritised.

"The real weakness at the moment is there is no way of ensuring that when somebody is told that they should leave the country, that their departure follows very quickly," he said.

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