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The Home Office has sacked its chief immigration inspector after he claimed that high-risk aircraft are landing in Britain without security checks on passengers.
David Neal “breached” the terms of his appointment and had “lost the confidence of the Home Secretary”, the department said.
Mr Neal, who was independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, provided information to a newspaper that appeared to show Border Force officials failed to check passengers on hundreds of private jets landing at London City Airport.
The Home Office rejected the claims, reported by the Daily Mail, and accused Mr Neal of putting “misleading data into the public domain”.
The Government department said it had made him aware that a large proportion of flights recorded as high-risk should have been reclassified as low-risk.
The Home Office said in a statement: “It is disappointing that Mr Neal has chosen to put misleading data into the public domain. The Home Office’s priority is to deliver a safe and secure border and we will never compromise on this.”
It added that the recruitment process for its next chief inspector was “in progress”.
Mr Neal, whose tenure was due to end on 21 March, said it was too soon to comment on the decision.
In his report, he expressed fears that the problem might be duplicated at other airports that handle private and chartered aircraft.
On Tuesday, immigration minister Tom Pursglove told the Commons that the Home Office “categorically rejects” claims about high-risk flights, and disputed the warnings made by Mr Neal.
Responding to an urgent question from Labour, Mr Pursglove, who is the Minister for Legal Migration, said: “When it comes to the questions that she raises around these flights at London City Airport and the information that has been put in the public domain, the Home Office categorically rejects these claims by David Neal.”
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs that ministers had been “repeatedly warned about border security risks on private flights”, saying: “The Prime Minister may just think it’s all his own mates, but there are real risks from organised crime, money laundering, drugs, weapons smuggling, trafficking and even terrorism.”
Mr Pursglove insisted Border Force performed “checks on 100 per cent of scheduled passengers arriving in the UK and risk-based intelligence-led checks on general aviation”, adding: “It’s deeply disturbing that information which has no basis in fact was leaked by the independent chief inspector to a national newspaper before the Home Office had the chance to respond.
“We are urgently investigating this breach of confidential information in full in the normal way.”
He said Mr Neal’s report was submitted to the Home Office last week and underwent fact-checking as was “standard practice”.
He added: “Mr Neal was made aware of a specific issue in the recording of data at London City Airport which meant that a large proportion of flights recorded as high-risk should have been reclassified as low-risk, and it’s disappointing that he’s chosen to put misleading data into the public domain.”
Mr Pursglove told MPs: “The security of the UK border is a top priority for me, for the Home Secretary and for the Home Office. Everything we do in this area is designed to reduce risks to this country and its citizens.”
The Home Office’s “priority is to deliver a safe and secure border, and we will never compromise on this”, he added.
