The United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA)'s legislative programme - whereby information on any person who has either arrived in the UK or is boarding a ship, aeroplane or a channel tunnel train bound for the UK must be provided to immigration officers - is proceeding, although it is not scheduled to become fully operational until March of 2014.

"E-Borders" was first announced by then-Home Secretary David Blunkett in 2004 amid political controversy over illegal migration.  It was piloted in a project called "semaphore"which was initiated in November of 2004.  According to the UKBA's website information already gathered has led to the arrests of people involved in serious crimes and in large drugs smuggling operations being stopped.

The legislative programme began with enabling legislation passed in 2006 whereby the cornerstone of UK immigration law, the Immigration Act 1971 was amended so as to allow the Secretary of State to make statutory instruments whereby the existing duties imposed on owners of ships or planes to provide information on their passengers could be widened.

Since then a total of five statutory instruments have been passed.  They all came into force on or before March 1 2008.

In February of this year the government confirmed that it had set up a database on which would be stored details of each of the more than 250 million journeys made annually into and out of the UK.  It is understood that the collection of this information has already begun, and that it is intended that by December of 2009 details of 60% of all international passengers and crews will be collected - with this figure rising to 95% by the end of 2010. The information will be checked against lists of people who are of interest to the authorities.

"E borders" has always been a controversial measure – closely associated with the government's mandatory ID cards scheme.

(The government resiled from its original programme to require British citizens as well as foreign nationals in the UK to obtain an ID card in June of this year (2009).   Foreign nationals (from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland) applying to extend their leave to remain in the UK in a range of designated categories, including spouses of people settled in the UK, students, domestic workers in private households, sole representatives and the dependents of people in these categories are now required to apply for ID cards.  From December of 2009 the range will include skilled workers, intra company transferees, Ministers of Religion and Sportspeople under Tier 2 of the Points Based System).

Like the ID cards scheme the government's opposition has been vocal in its opposition to the e borders regime.  The focus of the criticism has been the expense of the scheme. Complaints have also come from the travel industry – whose spokespeople have stated that travel chaos, in the form of "colossal queues"at ports could result from the full implementation of the regime.

The parliamentary opposition has also commented upon the implications of the scheme, stating that:

"We must not allow ourselves to become a Big Brother society"

And:

"This is another example of an intrusive database without any public debate about safeguards on its use. We are sleepwalking into a surveillance state and should remember that George Orwell's 1984 was a warning, not a blueprint."

The regime suffered a setback in April of this year when the House of Lords voted to remove a clause in what was then the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill whereby border controls were to be imposed on what is known as the "common travel area" between the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

Because the timetable for the full implementation of e borders  is set long after the results of next year's general election will have become known - whether the regime will ever become a reality remains to be seen.  The opposition's comments suggest otherwise.