Following accusations criticising the UK immigration authorities' management of the country's borders, home secretary Theresa May has come under increasing pressure to resign.
This week (November 7th) it was alleged that a number of non-European Union citizens were not checked by border control officers during the summer months, in a bid to keep the system moving.
The allegations have prompted concern that there could be a number of illegal immigrations within the country who are untracked, while there is also a chance that individuals who pose a danger to national security entered during this time.
However, Ms May has shifted the blame towards Brodie Clark, the former UK Border Force boss, who has been suspended amid the scandal.
The home secretary stated that he must take responsibility for his “unauthorised actions”, claiming that Mr Brodie took her guidelines designed to relax some checks on European travellers and scaled back checks on non-European passengers as well.
She acknowledged her role in introducing the pilot guidelines to relax EU passenger checks, but stated that the “limited” pilot was an “operational matter”, “which did not in any way put border security at risk” but rather allowed UK immigration officials to carry out intelligence-led checks on suspicious passengers during busy periods.