Brits face longer passport queues after Brexit as UK-EU lanes open to seven more nations
BRITS will face even longer passport queues after Brexit – as the Home Office opens up UK-EU lanes to seven other nations.
The Sun can reveal Border Force staff are demanding Ministers “come clean” over the potential for delays at airports under plans to make it easier to Americans, Australians, Canadians and others to get into Britain.
Philip Hammond last week confirmed people from the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea will be able to use e-gates from June.
But insiders have revealed they will also be able to go through traditional UK-EU custom controls – sparking fears of longer delays.
Officials admit the plans could lead to bigger queues at Stansted and Luton as well as Heathrow.
Plans for UK only passport lanes were ruled out by Home Secretary Sajid Javid last year on cost grounds.
Lucy Moreton of the Immigration Services Union said: “The Government has not been as open as it might have been.
“We’ll go from 27 other nationalities able to use the UK-EEA lane to 34.
“People are going to be coming back from holiday and I imagine be very upset – and it’s our members who will face the abuse.”
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Heathrow Airport has lobbied Ministers to allow “low-risk” passengers through e-gates for months. It demanded change after passport queues for ‘Rest of the world’ arrivals hit as long as 3 hours last summer.
British Airways chief Alex Cruz said two hours was “fast becoming the norm”.
The Home Office yesterday said: “We believe these changes should not significantly impact waiting times at the border – but we will keep this under review.”
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