European Union Entry/Exit System

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Wednesday 9th July 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

Of course, the primary aim of government has to be to ensure that the necessary infrastructure is in place at juxtaposed portals ahead of the implementation of the system. The EES is an EU-wide system. Although the EU has expressed a desire to explore pre-registration and we continue to work with European colleagues to encourage the development and adoption of an app, it is still in the early stages and will not be available at the start of implementation. However, even if there were an app, passengers would still need to attend a kiosk, booth or tablet to enrol biometrics, but of course the app would reduce the time taken for individuals to undertake full EES checks at the border, so it would be very desirable. We are urging them as hard as we can.

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that there is a facility at Stansted Airport that currently takes live racehorses, exporting them to the rest of Europe and further afield? For good reason, that has been requisitioned for other purposes, but there could be a period when those racehorses will not be able to move from East Anglia to the rest of Europe. Will he use his good offices to investigate this to make sure that a comparable facility is available without any delay to expediting flights of live racehorses, which bring much joy as well as being good for the East Anglian economy?

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

I am afraid it is a revelation to me that there is such a facility at Stansted, but, now that I know, I will go away and look at the noble Baroness’s remarks to see what can be done.