Britain:Conservative leader David Cameron has unveiled plans for a dedicated British border police force, and invited former Metropolitan Police commissioner John Stevens to head a working group to advise on its implementation.
Labour spokesmen immediately denounced the Tory leader's proposal - which he would part-fund by scrapping the Blair government's planned national identity card (ID) scheme. Immigration minister Liam Byrne suggested Mr Cameron's plans amounted to "posture politics backed up by fantasy finances". The minister also claimed the Tory leader's promise to "shut down Britain's ID infrastructure" would prevent the UK "stopping illegal journeys and tackling illegal jobs" while rendering the country "defenceless against illegal immigration".
However, Mr Cameron maintained that Britain's "porous" borders had worsened her social problems. In a speech delivered at Wapping police station, the Conservative leader said any country serious about its security must have properly policed borders. "We're an island - it should be easier for us than it is for most countries. But under Labour, we don't know who's coming in or who's going out."
As of now, said Mr Cameron, society was not properly defended against drug dealers, people smugglers, gun importers and terrorists who found it all too easy to bypass the system.
"No single organisation is responsible for performing this vital task. Instead we have at least six separate agencies, including revenue and customs, the immigration service, the security services, harbour police, SOCA [the Serious and Organised Crime Agency] and the Metropolitan Police. All these bodies have dedicated staff but they report through different organisations and are accountable to different cabinet ministers. This means that they do not communicate effectively with each other and lack overall co-ordination."
Mr Cameron said the Blair government's "big idea" was to deal with these problems through ID cards, but he insisted this showed that the government's priorities were completely wrong.
"ID cards will be ineffective and expensive," said the Tory leader. "They would waste up to £20 billion without performing one of the most basic tasks of all - securing our borders. In short, ID cards are a bad idea."
Promising "a completely different approach" by a Conservative government, Mr Cameron suggested "the right approach is to have a fully integrated border police force that will have one clear focus - enhancing the security of our country."
He said the working group would be headed by Lord Stevens, who knew better than anyone the problems faced by police in Britain's cities.