Border securityU.K. national security imperiled by delays in e-Border project

British lawmakers warned that national security could be imperiled by the protracted hold-ups in implementing a £1.1 billion system of border checks.

The lawmakers accused the Home Office of unwarranted confidence over the introduction of the e-Borders program, due to become fully operational in 2019, eight years later than originally planned.

Daily Mail reports that the Public Accounts Committee told the Home Office to “get its house in order now” over the system, which has been plagued by delays and technical problems since its inception.

The Public Accounts Committee noted that only 86 percent of new arrivals to Britain have their data checked ahead of arrival, although the Home office pledged that the data of 95 percent of new arrivals would be checked by 2010.

Meg Hillier, MP, the committee’s chairwoman, said: “If you collect information before people arrive, the more chance you have to stop them entering the country in the first place.

“That’s the prize — to stop the people who mean to do this country harm, terrorists or criminals, to stop them coming into the country in the first place.”

The Mail notes that since the e-Borders project was launched in 2003, the Home Office has accumulated hundreds of millions of pounds in costs, including a £150 million settlement following a legal dispute when the original contract was cancelled in 2010.

Hillier accused the Home office of “a history of poor management and a worrying complacency about its impact on taxpayers.”