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May 'allowed 500 criminals in'

Jane Merrick
Sunday 13 November 2011 01:00 GMT
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More than 500 criminals and suspected terrorists may have been allowed into Britain under the relaxation of immigration rules by Home Secretary Theresa May earlier this year, it was claimed last night.

Official Home Office figures show that during the summer of 2010, 564 European nationals were refused entry to the country because they were on a "warnings index". Over the same period this summer, the Home Secretary introduced a pilot scheme for relaxing passport checks on people from inside the European Economic Area to reduce queues at passport control.

The relaxed regime meant that similar numbers of people who were stopped the previous summer would have got through this year, the Labour Party said.

The figures emerged days before Brodie Clark, the former UK Border Force chief who was ousted over the affair, appears in front of the Home Affairs Select Committee. His evidence on Tuesday is expected to put further pressure on Mrs May.

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