UK to spend 10.5 million pounds to prepare ports for new EU border checks

London: Britain will spend 10.5 million pounds ($13.9 million) to help ports prepare for the European Union’s post-Brexit security checks for UK nationals entering the bloc and reduce the risk of queuing and disruption, the government said on Tuesday.

More than four years after the UK formally left the EU, the 27-nation bloc is due this autumn to introduce a digital border system, known as the entry and exit system (EES), which will remove the need to manually scan passports.

The new rules will require people travelling from the UK and other non-EU countries to register at the border, which includes having their face scanned and fingerprints taken, creating a digital record that links a travel document to a person’s identity using biometrics.

Britain’s new Labour government warned within weeks of taking office in July that the country was insufficiently prepared for the new checks and that disruption was likely.

The funding will help ports to put in place necessary technology as well as complete work such as installing kiosks and recruiting and training staff to prepare for the introduction of the checks, the government said.

“While EES checks will be a significant change to the EU border, we are working hard with the European Commission, member states and ports to ensure we are well prepared, and minimise any disruption for Brits travelling into Europe,” said Seema Malhotra, Britain’s minister for migration and citizenship.

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The Port of Dover, the Eurotunnel at Folkestone and the Eurostar at St Pancras station in London will each receive 3.5 million pounds.

Britain voted to leave the EU in 2016 and formally exited the bloc on January 31, 2020, though it remained in the European single market until 2021.