May: All passports should have been checked

A senior UK Border Agency official authorised the relaxation of border controls without ministerial sanction, Home Secretary Theresa May has said.

In a statement to the Commons, Mrs May said that she did not give consent or authorisation for any relaxation to border controls beyond a pilot scheme limited to EU nationals and that passports should always have been checked.

Head of the UK border force, Brodie Clark, is one of three officials suspended over claims staff were told to relax checks on non-EU nationals.