The creation of a new border police force with more than 30,000 officers and civilian staff has been backed by Tory leader David Cameron.
The Opposition leader gave his support to a report by former Metropolitan Police commissioner Lord Stevens, who has proposed a new force with sweeping police-style powers to crack down on terrorism, organised crime, immigration and smuggling.
Mr Cameron said: "I think it confirms what we have long thought, that, at our points of entry into the UK, there are just too many agencies, often pulling in different directions."
And he added: "We would like one service that pulls it together and ensures we have greater security at our points of entry."
Lord Stevens said security and immigration measures at ports and airports were "fragmented".
But he recognised in the report, which was launched at London City Airport, that the merger of a wide variety of existing agencies would be a "very significant challenge".
A number of organisations have already been merged by the Government to create the new UK Border Agency, which began operating in April.
However, so far ministers have shied away from including police in the organisation, which Lord Stevens said would be a crucial part of ensuring Britain's safe borders.
The former senior policeman said the new Border Protection Service (BPS) would be "uniformed and unified" and would be a police service rather than a civilian organisation, led by a Chief Constable.
