Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many additional passport control staff they plan to deploy at (1) ports, (2) airports, and (3) the Channel Tunnel terminus, to handle the increasing number of international travellers following the removal of COVID-19 restrictions; and what assessment they have made of (a) the current waiting times for passport control clearance, and (b) the impact on the tourism industry.

Our utmost priority is protecting the safety and health of the public. This means occasionally passengers will occasionally need to accept an increase in the time taken to cross the border.

We will never compromise on border security and remain committed to keeping the border secure. We are deploying additional officers to provide support as and when required to do this.

Resource and staffing requirements at every port are continually reviewed by Border Force working and resources are deployed flexibly as and when they are required.