UKIP calls for UK-only immigration queues

Steven Woolfe makes the case for tougher border controls

The UK Independence Party UKIP is calling for separate immigration queues for UK citizens at border entry points.

UKIP immigration spokesman Steven Wolfe also wants to strip terrorists of their passports, and deny entry to asylum seekers without ID documents.

He told the UKIP conference he also wants to boost the number of frontline border staff and search teams by 2,500.

The UKIP policy updates came as the government announced plans to give the Home Office control of passports.

Two queues

Mr Woolfe said UKIP would bring in a "priority entry" for Britons, with a separate queue for the rest of the world, including European Union citizens.

He added that a failed electronic entry system - e-borders - highlighted the coalition's "incompetence" on border controls.

Referring to a payout made to Raytheon, a US defence giant fired from the e-borders contract by the Home Office over alleged poor performance, Mr Woolfe said the blunder had cost "a quarter of a billion pounds in compensation".

UKIP wants to strip terrorists of their passports, and deny entry to asylum seekers without ID documents

He said: "If the government can find the technology to listen to all our phone calls, it must be technically possible to know who's coming into this country or not."

UKIP also wants to strip terrorists of their passports, echoing controversial government plans.

Mr Woolfe said: "UKIP will remove the passports of any person, who has gone to fight for a terrorist organisation, and anyone who came here and was granted, and lucky enough, to have such a passport, and carry out terrorist activities, you will also lose it, because there are lots of people who want that passport."

Asylum denied

In addition, he said illegal immigration was "a scourge on the people that need help, and it's a boon for terrorists and mafia gangs".

UKIP would support the abolition of a treaty that says asylum seekers have to remain in the first European country they enter.

"UKIP will support the measures to abolish the provisions of the Dublin Treaty, that says that we cannot choose to identify the country an illegal migrant comes from if they do not have any identifying documents. We will send you back."

The UK's border force would also be boosted by 2,500, under the plans.

"They are the ones who have to spot terrorists and drug dealers among the tens of millions of people who come to our countries each year," Mr Wolfe said.

"They are our first line of defence of the homeland, and for too long they have been ignored and put under pressure by successive governments."

UKIP added that it will give armed forces personnel who have served for a minimum of 12 years the option of joining the border force or the police when they leave military service.