UK to spend £10.5m on new EU border checks

The government will provide £10.5m worth of funding to prepare for new EU border checks this autumn.

The Port of Dover, Eurotunnel at Folkestone and Eurostar at St Pancras will receive financial aid to help reduce queues for travellers.

From the autumn, travellers from the UK and other non-EU countries will have to go through a new digital border system called the Entry/Exit System (EES), which is being brought in by the EU.

This will involve having your photograph and fingerprints taken.

The government money will be spent on providing ports with the necessary technology to complete these checks.

“Nobody wants to see excessive queues at our ports, which is why we’re providing this funding to ensure our borders are as prepared as possible for the upcoming change – despite EES being an EU initiative.

“Since coming into government, we have been reviewing plans and closely supporting ports to make sure they have the right processes in place so that EES registration can be smooth and queue times kept to a minimum," Future of Roads Minister Lilian Greenwood said.

“We are doing all that we can to be ready with the facilities that will be used by French border officials operating the new system whilst we continue to work with the UK government to deliver more seamless travel between the UK and EU," Emma Ward, chief operations officer for the Port of Dover said.