Long queues at airports creating 'new targets for terrorists'

The all-party Commons transport select committee has called for queuing passengers to be moved through to airside more quickly - two weeks after the Evening Standard revealed fears that people waiting at airports are a prime target for extremists - and raised alarms about the number of passengers breaching carry-on luggage restrictions.

Committee chairman Labour MP Gwyneth Dunwoody told BBC Radio 4's Today: "Moving passengers more swiftly through to airside is going to reduce the threat [of a terrorist strike].

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"But we must work out why other countries have a completely different set of rules to us and why we have so many people at some points queuing in one place.î

The MPs said Professor Alan Hatcher of the International School for Security and Explosives Education, and Michael Todd, the Greater Manchester chief constable, had highlighted last autumn that lengthy queues in check-in areas presented a significant security threat.

They told the committee: "We have queues of 200 to 300 people in terminals now. Your bag is not searched when you go in or out. You can take 23kg of baggage with you and 23kg of ammonium nitrate mix would... make a good impact."

Meanwhile, the Conservatives today published their plans for a homeland security force made up of two battalions and headed by a permanent leader. Former intelligence chief Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, who led a national and international policy group for the Conservatives, said: "We feel there needs to be a small force which is readily available, properly trained and has a command centre dedicated to looking after our territory at home."

Under the plans, the new homeland security chief would oversee the nation's response to a crisis by deploying the military to work with other emergency services.

The Tory blueprint comes a day after Prime Minister Gordon Brown published proposals for a new uniformed border force as well as extending the time police can hold terror suspects without trial to up to 56 days.

The transport committee also argued that airport operator BAA - which runs seven UK airports including Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted - "should no longer remain a monopoly".