Ex-borders watchdog: I stand by what I said to Mail
BORDER Force’s failure to inspect private jets poses a ‘really dangerous risk to security’, a sacked watchdog warned yesterday.
David Neal, former independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, claimed he would have pressed for a wider review of these arrivals if he had not been dismissed last month by Home Secretary James Cleverly.
The Mail revealed how ‘high-risk’ aircraft have been allowed to land at London City airport without security checks.
Mr Neal voiced fears the problem may be duplicated at other airports that handle private and chartered aircraft, known as ‘general aviation’. He insisted a delay of up to nine months in appointing his successor would mean the watchdog’s inspection schedule will suffer.
He told the Lords justice and home affairs committee: ‘Most worryingly, it means that the remainder of this year’s programme isn’t going to be launched. Their experience will not be able to inform next year’s programme.
‘One of the areas would be general aviation. I think this is a really dangerous risk to security, so we should be doing that – but there is no one in place to do that.’
He added: ‘I stand by what I said in the Mail. The legislation requires me to identify border security failings. If I’ve not been able to communicate failings to the Home Office, either to senior officials, to the director-general of Border Force, or to ministers, then it leaves you with very few angles to go at.’
Mr Neal added there was a ‘clear need for reform’ of Border Force.
The Home Office published 13 of Mr Neal’s reports on the same day last month when findings from an inquiry into Sarah Everard’s murder by police officer Wayne Couzens was put out.
Amid accusations the Government was attempting to bury bad news, the reports revealed a litany of shocking failures in the nation’s borders and immigration system.
The Home Office has disputed the accuracy of its own figures on high-risk general aviation arrivals.
UK Border Force officers are supposed to check 100 per cent of such flights that they have classified as high-risk.
But according to data given to Mr Neal, just 21 per cent of 687 were inspected by immigration officers at City airport last year.
The debacle means gangsters, illegal immigrants, trafficking victims and extremists may have entered the UK without scrutiny.
Mr Neal told peers he had been instructed not to discuss the contents of his report on City airport, which is due to be published by mid-April.
‘Really dangerous risk to security’