Taliban may have entered the UK due to relaxed border checks

Labour’s welcoming immigration policy may have seen members of the Taliban permitted into the UK unhindered, according to a document from the Home Office which was released using the Freedom of Information law. The document revealed that immigration officials were allowed to take risks to ensure speed of process with numerous new entrants afforded only the briefest of border checks.

The government’s latest moves to work through a massive backlog of cases has also been cited by opponents as an attempt to clear any evidence of the past open-door policy. Chris Grayling, the Shadow Home Secretary, said he was appalled that people in such sensitive positions should be encouraged to take high risks. Grayling said Labour was now using its past mistakes as fodder for its own political purposes.

The release of the official letter shows Alan Johnson instructed his staff to take risks when granting work permits, visas and residency extensions. It also shows that some 337,000 immigration cases were fast tracked with minimal checks. Immigration almost doubled in the period from 1999 to 2002, with numbers rising from 170,000 to 300,000 new visa issuances.

The letter, dated 2003 was leaked by a former aide of Immigration Minister Beverley Hughes who quit amidst the scandal surrounding Romanian and Bulgarian criminal gangs.

There have also been suggestions that some of fast tracking supported the Taliban’s UK membership, with more than 20 known members having been admitted into Britain in 2001 following the Afghanistan invasion.