Jack Doyle
Daily Mail
August 8, 2013
The Home Office was last night accused of an ‘immigration cover-up’ after parts of a highly critical border security report were blacked out.
A total of 15 passages were redacted from a study into border controls in Calais on the grounds that publishing them would be ‘undesirable for reasons of national security’.
It is the first time that a regular report by the chief inspector of borders and immigration John Vine has had significant sections withdrawn from public view by Home Secretary Theresa May.
Among the details erased from the report is the number of illegal migrants sneaking into Britain on Eurostar trains from Brussels.
The so-called ‘Lille loophole’ allows migrants to stay on the train through France without showing any documentation because they are in the EU’s free travel zone, and then arrive at St Pancras to claim asylum.
Other passages were blacked out in sections dealing with concerns over staff shortages at Britain’s main immigration posts in Calais.
Meanwhile, the unredacted parts of the report contained worrying signs of mounting pressures on border controls in Calais which check passengers using ferries to the UK.
Labour immediately seized on the redactions. Labour’s immigration spokesman Chris Bryant called on Mrs May to share the report in full with the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee.
He said: ‘This cover-up and the failure at our borders provide yet more dents in this Government’s much-tarnished credibility. What possible reason can there be for redacting elements of a report by a highly respected independent inspector?
‘This is a cover-up to hide her [Mr May’s] own failings.’