World

UKIP Calls on Home Secretary to Resign Over Mismanagement of UK Visitors' Data

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) Gerard Batten on Thursday called on Home Secretary Amber Rudd to resign after the Home Office revealed that it had lost track of over 600,000 foreign visitors to the United Kingdom.
Sputnik

According to a statement published on the UKIP website, the UK government spent 800 million British pounds (over $1.1 billion) on a border system designed to log all entries and departures.

Regional UKIP Leader Files Complaint Over BBC's 'Anti-Brexit Bias'
However, UK Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration David Bolt found that there were no departure records for more than 500,000 non-visa travelers, including those from the United States, Australia, Argentina, and Brazil, due to the unreliable exit check system. In addition, 88,000 non-EU citizens, whose visas typically last six months had disappeared.

"The revelation that the Home Office has lost track of over 600,000 foreign visitors; enough people to fill the city of Belfast, is scandalous. £800 million of taxpayers’ money has been wasted on what is an utterly useless system," Batten said in response to Bolt’s report.

Furious at the data debacle, Batten called on Rudd to "do the decent thing and resign as Home Secretary so that someone else can sort out this scandalous mess."

Discuss