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Hundreds of thousands of people have been let into the UK unchecked after border controls have been dropped or downgraded on hundreds of occasions over the past five years without ministerial approval. An official investigation into the relaxation of border checks last year found that confusion, poor record-keeping and ambiguous instructions were rife in the chaotic UK Borders Agency. Around 500,000 Eurostar passengers boarded trains in France and arrived in the UK without being checked against the warnings index of suspected terrorists and those with bad immigration histories. Foreign students were even waved through checks if they appeared to be genuine. Outlining the highly critical report in the House of Commons yesterday Home Secretary Theresa May 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 UKBA is being stripped of responsibilities for patrolling the UK's points of entry and the Border Force spun off from it to carry out that role reporting directly to ministers from March. The fiasco over the suspension of border controls hundreds of times without ministerial permission led to the then head of the force Brodie Clark resigning and almost cost the Home Secretary her job. The 85-page report by the independent chief inspector of the UKBA, John Vine, showed ministers and civil servants contributed to the debacle because of "poor communication, poor managerial oversight and a lack of clarity about roles and responsibilities".
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Immigrants Pour into England Unchecked
Written by Administrator
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