Yvette Cooper MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, responding to revelations in tomorrow’s Guardian about relaxation of passport checks and in the Daily Telegraph that Ministers were warned months ago about problems, said

“This is seriously chaotic. The Government is clearly in denial about the extent of the crisis at the passport office despite being warned months ago. We know staff from the fraud department have been moved over to deal with a backlog of passport applications Theresa May claims does not exist. And now we find out staff have been told to scale back vital security checks - if this is what the Prime Minister meant by getting a grip on the situation, he needs to think again. Theresa May needs to stop burying her head in the sand and come clean about what is actually going on in the passport office.”

The Immigration Minister told the Today Programme this morning that “security is not being compromised. All of the anti-fraud checks are being undertaken in respect of the passport applications”