British PM backs Home Secretary in borders row

British Prime Minister David Cameron today told MPs he supported the decision to suspend UK Border Force head Brodie Clark for relaxing checks on non-Europeans without ministerial approval.

And Mr Cameron gave Home Secretary Theresa May his backing over her decision to implement a pilot of targeted checks on people arriving at UK airports and ports from Europe, which meant an easing of controls on those thought to be low-risk.

The Prime Minister told the House of Commons that the pilot had resulted in a 10% increase in illegal immigrants detected, a 48% rise in forged documents and a 100% hike in the numbers of firearms seized.

But Labour leader Ed Miliband denounced the situation as “a complete fiasco”, using Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons to accuse Mr Cameron of having no idea how many people had entered the country without proper checks.