by Martin Jefferies

A Kent MP says allegations that border checks were relaxed for passengers travelling on British-registered coaches through the Port of Dover are a "real concern".

Charlie Elphicke, the MP for Dover and Deal, was responding to claims in a Sunday newspaper that for four years, border staff merely checked passport photos against passengers' faces.

According to the Sunday Telegraph, passports were not scanned electronically and cross-checked with a computer database, which would have revealed whether the holder was a wanted terrorist, criminal or immigration offender.

The relaxed security checks – allegedly brought in in 2007 because of concerns about congestion across the Channel in Calais – are said to have been halted less than two weeks ago.

Mr Elphicke said: "This is a real concern. We need to know who at the UK Border Agency (UKBA) authorised this and whether ministers of the then-Labour government authorised this.

"It's important to get to the bottom of it and to make sure our borders are secure going forward.

"Waving people through in order to prevent queues at the port during busy periods is understandable from a business point of view but I don't think business interests should ever outweigh national security."

There are now calls for a full statement on the allegations, which are likely to be discussed at a meeting of the Commons' Home Affairs Select Committee tomorrow.

"It's important we have full information about what the previous government did," Mr Elphicke said. "It's also important for the Home Secretary to set out how the UKBA is going to operate at a senior level going forward."

Asked whether the Home Secretary Theresa May would keep her job in the wake of the latest allegations, Mr Elphicke added: "It's not her fault, is it?

"That said, the Home Office is notorious for being a very difficult department where everything goes wrong, which is why it's dubbed a ministerial graveyard.

"Personally, I think the Home Secretary's done very well over the last 18 months and she's made a lot of progress in making the Home Office increasingly fit for purpose."

A Home Office spokesman said: "Nothing is more important than the integrity of our border in order to protect national security and reduce and control immigration.

"There are ongoing investigations into allegations regarding the relaxation of border controls without ministerial approval."