French border control zone at Dover to be expanded by Labour government ahead of new fingerprint checks coming into effect for British tourists visiting the EU

• The Ministry of the Interior today announces the streamlining of EU border controls
• It will reduce queues when the new EU Entry/Exit System (EES) comes into force
• The new system will require holidaymakers to undergo biometric checks

Labour is set to extend French border controls at Dover to prevent chaos if EU fingerprinting is introduced.

The Home Office today announces that EU border controls are being streamlined to reduce the risk of queues and ease travel chaos during peak times in Kent when the new EU Entry/Exit System (EES) comes into effect in the autumn.

The new system will require holidaymakers to undergo biometric checks, potentially leading to massive congestion at ports such as Dover, the Channel Tunnel and the Eurostar terminal if infrastructure is not up to standard.

Today, ministers will introduce a legal instrument in parliament to allow French border officials to operate within an extended border control zone at Dover and ensure there is more space to process passengers.

Immigration Minister Seema Malhotra said: “The EU entry-exit system has been in the pipeline for a number of years.

‘But instead of doing everything it could to ensure travellers and businesses entering and leaving Britain were not affected, the previous government appears to have sat back and let others do the hard work that was needed.

‘We have reviewed the preparations made so far and while the Port of Dover, local authorities and businesses have done an excellent job, previous Home Secretary’s offices have simply not done enough to mitigate the impact.

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‘We are now working hard to minimize the risk of excessively long queues as much as possible.

‘But we lost valuable time under the previous government.

‘EES checks are a major change at EU borders and people should be aware that queues may form at peak times when checks are first introduced.’

The EES scheme, which was due to launch on 6 October, has already been postponed twice, while it was initially planned to introduce strict controls from 2022.

Ministers have urged work to ensure ports have the right technology in place, despite previous warnings that such mechanisms do not currently exist. This would allow the face, passport and fingerprints of each passenger to be scanned while they are in their vehicle.

Currently, tourists from non-EU countries such as the UK who travel to the mainland via ports and do not need a visa can simply have their passports checked and stamped by border guards, allowing traffic to flow smoothly.

But the new system will require Britons to give their fingerprints and have a photo taken as a condition of entry.

However, sources in the sector still doubt whether the introduction will take place from October.

This is because every airport and port in Europe must be ready to put the system into operation. It is known that in some countries there will be problems with the tests, because the new infrastructure is not yet installed everywhere.

They said it was unlikely the European Commission would approve the system before everyone was ready for it.

Dover will get 24 kiosks where coach passengers can complete EES checks and register passengers in cars using officers and tablets, while EuroStar will get around 50.

Eurotunnel will get more than 100 kiosks and the Home Office estimates the checks will add just over five minutes to journey times.