Brown announces new border police force - but critics say nothing will change apart from the uniforms

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Gordon Brown has unveiled his first major terrorism strategy with plans for a Border Force to bring together immigration, revenue and customs, and visa staff.

The Prime Minister said it would lead 'for the first time to one single primary checkpoint for both passport control and for customs'.

But critics claimed the force would be little more than existing guards wearing a new uniform and pointed out that Labour had previously dismissed a Tory proposal for a unified border guard as 'simplistic and dangerous'.

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Mr Brown issued a challenge to the Conservatives to work with him to ensure police have adequate powers

And, subject to a review, the force will not include police or have police powers.

Officers will also not be given each other's respective powers. Instead, they will simply continue to do their current jobs, while all wearing the same uniform.

Opposition parties, which have pledged a border guard which would have included the police, criticised ministers.

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Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: 'Our concern is that their proposal is simply the same old ineffective porous border control, albeit in a different uniform, instead of a new specialised unified police force equipped with the powers necessary to do the job.'

An armed officer at Heathrow airport this month. The new Border Force will work alongside the police

LibDem spokesman Nick Clegg said: 'It is a "border force lite" without police powers or the incorporation of the Transport Police.

'It is a pity that on such an important issue Gordon Brown appears to have chosen to create a media splash rather than make a truly substantive new announcement.'

Jan Berry, chairman of the Police Federation, said: 'We are concerned this new force appears to exclude sworn police officers in what is intrinsically a policing function.

'A border force must combine the efforts of numerous agencies including the police, and needs to integrate local, national and international intelligence with operational awareness and flexibility.'

The controversy undermined Mr Brown's first major security announcement, of which the Border Force was the centrepiece.

He kick-started a new Parliamentary debate over the detention of terror suspects without charge - indicating the Government will purse a controversial doubling of the current 28- day limit to 56 days.

Mr Brown also moved to close an alarming loophole which means the DNA of terror suspects cannot be placed on the national police DNA database.

A blunder in the drafting of the 2000 Terrorism Act meant samples taken from those arrested under the legislation could not be included.

It means scores of extremists arrested since September 11 are excluded while hundreds of thousands of innocent Britons who were arrested but never charged have their details logged for life.

Mr Brown also announced:

• Electronic checks on entering and leaving the country from 2009 to stop terrorists and criminals.

• From next March, biometric visas will be extended to all visa applicants.

• A review by Home Office minister Lord West of how to best protect crowded places, buildings and national infrastructure such as roads, railways, tunnels, bridges, water systems and utilities.

• The British watchlist of suspects will be linked to the Interpol database of lost and stolen documents at a cost of £5million.

• An extra £70million to help councils and community groups win the 'hearts and minds' battle against extremism.

• Tightening of bail conditions and travel restrictions in any cases where people are suspected of involvement with terrorism.

The last move follows the revelation that July 21 bomb plot ringleader Muktar Said Ibrahim was able to go to Pakistan while facing charges for extremism.

Under the plan, he would have been forced to hand over his passport. It will be backed by a new sex offender- style register and travel banning orders for convicted terrorists.

They would be forced to notify the authorities of their address, and whether they were living near any potential terrorist targets.

Police would be able to apply to stop fanatics leaving the country if they feared they were planning to attend a terror training camp, or meet with extremists.

Mr Brown's U-turn on the Border Force - albeit one with reduced powers - is an embarrassment for ministers.

As recently as November, immigration minister Liam Byrne criticised 'the chaos of a damaging, distracting and disruptive reorganisation of three agencies on the front line into a single border force'.

Downing Street last night defended the move, saying it would allow officials from three organisations to work better together.

Mr Brown's spokesman said the new Force would allow improved sharing of information, provide a common objective for what are separate bodies, common powers, and a bigger pool of resources to protect national borders.

The Government held out the prospect of expanding the force with extra resources and personnel following a review by Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell.

The Home Office said: 'The approach we've set out is a thorough and robust way forward.

'In his previous comments, the minister was dismissing a big bang change as damaging and destructive.

'A border force on its own is an outdated idea which is why we are proposing to integrate our force with biometric and electronic controls off-shore and ID cards in Britain, starting with IDs for foreign nationals next year.' _______________________________________________________________________________________________

Terrorists may be conducting 'dry runs' at U.S. airports to test security before a possible attack, it has been claimed.

In at least four incidents in the past year, security screeners found items in carry-on luggage that resembled homemade bombs, according to a memo from the Transportation Security Administration.

They included a plastic bag containing a block of cheese taped to another bag holding a mobile phone charger, and a bag with a battery, wires, a block of brown clay-like minerals and pipes.

The internal memo, revealed by NBC News, said: 'Such testing generally indicates attacks will soon follow.'

None of the passengers in question had been linked with terrorist organisations so far, the memo said, but their explanations were suspicious and they were still under investigation.

 

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