Brexit: Home Office will 'struggle to cope' with challenges, says former official

David Wood, former head of immigration enforcement, says challenge of Brexit 'can't be met' with the current resources

British Airways has launched a scathing attack on the Home Office over 'dreadful' immigration queues at airports (PA)

The Home Office will struggle to cope with the challenges of Brexit without more resources, a former immigration enforcement boss has said.

David Wood, who was director general of immigration enforcement at the Home Office until 2015, raised concerns to MPs about the scale of the task facing immigration officials after Britain leaves the EU.

Appearing before the Home Affairs Select Committee, Mr Wood said extra border checks on EU citizens after Brexit will heap “considerable pressure” on stretched staff.

MPs also heard that more than a million illegal immigrants are unlikely to ever be removed from Britain, as Mr Wood admitted there are "enormous difficulties" in removing overseas nationals who are in the country unlawfully.

Mr Wood echoed politicians' concerns over the Home Office’s ability to deliver on Theresa May's Brexit plan to register the estimated three million EU nationals living in the UK, saying it would result in backlogs or a need to bring in staff from other departments.

Asked about the capacity to deal with immigration changes, Mr Wood said: “I don’t think they can cope with it.

“Right across the immigration system - I don’t think it’s ever been greatly well resourced - it’s becoming tighter and tighter and budgets are getting reduced and reduced.

“So I don’t think under current resources that that challenge of Brexit can be met and certainly not met smoothly.

“There’s no doubt in my mind of that.”

He conceded that rising pressures on staff could increase the chance of errors, after high-profile mistakes by the Home Office where more than 100 people were mistakenly told they would be deported.

Mr Wood suggested it could take up to a year before increases to the workforce would make an impact because of the "bureaucracy" around Government recruitment.

The committee also heard from former independent chief borders inspector John Vine, who said a “considerable number” of extra staff would be needed to cope with demands.

It comes after the Prime Minister used her first Commons appearance since her ill-fated party conference speech to warn the public to prepare for crashing out of the EU with no deal and to outline emergency plans to avoid a border meltdown for businesses and travellers.

Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman Ed Davey said: “The Home Office can barely cope now let alone once the true impact of Brexit is felt.

“The department already suffers from chronic underfunding and the inability to get on with the day-to-day job, being under political pressure to deliver on ludicrous Conservative policies like reducing immigration to the tens-of-thousands.

“If the Government can’t even organise its own departments, how can we trust them to negotiate a good deal on behalf of the country?”