MPs raise concerns on border plan

Keith Vaz chairs the Home Affairs Select Committee which is concerned about a border protection programme planned
12 April 2012

MPs have raised major concerns about the viability of a £1.2 billion Government programme to protect Britain from terrorism, cross-border crime and illegal immigration.

The e-Borders project aims to record the journey of every person travelling to and from the UK.

But the Home Affairs Select Committee said the Government is not yet to resolve data protection problems.

Individual European Union members must agree to hand over passenger information before it can be collected.

The report warns that without their approval ministers could be forced to remove from the scheme all journeys within Europe involving a stop in Britain.

The UK Border Agency is also still negotiating with the European Commission over making e-Borders comply with EU rules on freedom of movement, the committee said.

The cross-party committee of MPs said it was "sceptical" whether those problems, and some technical ones involving the transmission of passenger data, would be resolved "swiftly".

Committee chairman Keith Vaz said it was taking the exceptional step of issuing a report because of the lack of progress by UKBA in recent months.

The committee also questioned whether officials would meet its target of summer next year for clearing the backlog of up to 450,000 asylum claims.

Mr Vaz said: "Despite the assurances given by the Government in their responses to our original reports, the subsequent evidence we have received reinforces and, in some areas, increases the concerns we had about UKBA at the end of last year."

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