Emergency plans to hire 70 more staff at troubled Heathrow were announced by the Immigration Minister yesterday as he acknowledged that the huge queues at the airport may be damaging Britain's reputation abroad.

Immigration chiefs were accused yesterday of presiding over "complete chaos" when the bungled introduction of a new student visa regime led to an influx of migrants to Britain to work illegally.

Judges at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg will meet next week to consider whether the Jordanian cleric Abu Qatada can appeal against deportation from Britain.

Scale of job losses emerges after Government drafts in help to tackle long queues

Government plans to bring in 80 extra staff to tackle unacceptable delays at Heathrow Airport are like "putting a sticking plaster on a serious injury", a union warned today.

Repeated failed attempts to deport radical cleric Abu Qatada have cost nearly £1million in legal fees, the Government confirmed.

Clear minimum standards for border checks will be brought in after last year's row exposed staff cutting corners and acting without ministerial approval, the Immigration Minister said today.

It is more than five years since John Reid arrived at the Home Office and denounced the Immigration Service as "not fit for purpose". Three Home Secretaries and one change of Government later, it seems to be business as usual. John Vine paints a familiar picture of poor internal communications, lax record-keeping and an apparent disregard for keeping ministers in the loop.

High-earning migrants and promising student entrepreneurs will find it easier to work in Britain as the Government aims to ensure only "the right people are coming here", the Immigration Minister said today.

Figures showing 371,000 immigrants were on benefits were rushed out by ministers with insufficient regard for "weaknesses" in the data, a watchdog has complained.

An all-woman team have completed a crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, storming into the record books along the way, organisers said today.

David Cameron's promise to slash the number of people moving to Britain suffered a fresh setback yesterday when net migration hit a record annual high of more than 250,000.