Britain to need 3,000 extra border officers after Brexit: Official

UK Border control is seen in Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport in London, Britain, on July 30, 2017. (Photo by Reuters)

Britain says it will need as many as 3,000 extra border patrol officers to stop illegal migrants from entering the country after the UK withdraws from the European Union.

General Secretary of the UK Borders, Immigration and Customs Union Luce Moreton made the announcement in an interview with the Sundaily newspaper on Thursday, noting that “Britain's borders aren't secure.”

“We don’t have enough staff to respond to all the small vessels spotted. We don’t have enough cutters to intercept small vessels at sea,” Moreton said. “We don’t have enough people to respond when there are lorry drops. More often than not we can’t get there.”

The revelation comes as budget spending on border force has shrunk by an astounding 100 million pounds since 2012, with the number of people getting into Britain illegally having increased by 12 million in the same period.

The budget cut also led to the resignation of 300 out of 7,900 officers last year, leaving all British airports and terminals reportedly short of staff to monitor arrivals.

Curbing mass immigration from the bloc under freedom of movement rules was a major reason why many Britons voted to leave the EU last year.

On June 23, 2016, some 52 percent (17.4 million) of British people voted to leave the EU after 43 years of membership.

The Brexit vote result caused political turmoil in Britain and sent economic shockwaves through the country. The pound fell to its lowest level in 31 years, around $1.3120, its lowest level since mid-1985. Nearly $3 trillion was also wiped off the value of world stocks.