New EU border rules which would force British tourists to submit fingerprints and facial biometrics have been postponed indefinitely.
The Entry/Exit system (EES) was due to come into force on Nov 10 but has now been delayed for a third time with no new deadline set.
Sir Keir Starmer is lobbying for Britain to be exempted from the rules when they finally come into force, prompting speculation he will agree to a youth mobility scheme with Brussels in exchange.
Relations with the EU suffered a setback on Friday when Spain warned Britain it faces a permanent hard border on Gibraltar on Friday after imposing surprise passport checks.
Both sides have turned a blind eye to post-Brexit travel restrictions including stamping passports and limiting visa-free travel to 90 days in every 180.
But on Friday morning huge queues formed after the Spanish authorities insisted on stamping passports. Gibraltar had “no choice but to reciprocate” with its own controls, Fabian Picardo, the chief minister, said as he described the Spanish decision to introduce them as hugely regrettable.
Brussels will now explore phasing the bloc-wide border rules gradually.
The decision to delay the scheme again just a month before its planned implementation date came after a meeting of EU interior ministers in Luxembourg on Thursday.
Germany, France and the Netherlands had said they were not ready to roll out the new electronic replacement for wet-stamping the passports of non-EU citizens entering the Schengen Zone.
Ylva Johansson, the Commissioner for Home Affairs, said there were “some concerns when it comes to the resilience of the system”.
The three countries are responsible for 40 per cent of all inward traffic to the EU and have faced IT difficulties.
Ms Johannsson said the EES could be introduced “with a little step-by-step going into the system, not a Big Bang of all border crossing points at the same time.”
The system was meant to be introduced last summer but was delayed amid French concerns over disruption to the Paris Olympics and Rugby World Cup.
It was rescheduled for Oct 6 before being delayed again to Nov 10.
It will apply to non-EU citizens, including Britons, entering the passport-free Schengen Zone for visits, holidays and business trips for a stay of up to 90 days within 180 days. All entries and exits will be recorded.
Once it is working, visitors will have to provide passports and have their faces photographed and fingerprints scanned electronically. The system is meant to help crack down on people overstaying short-term visas and identity fraudsters.
However, Downing Street has been privately lobbying EU countries to take a “more pragmatic approach” to the fingerprint tests when they are eventually introduced.
Nick Thomas-Symonds, the minister responsible for negotiating with the bloc, is understood to have raised the matter personally in talks with EU officials.
It raises the prospect that Brussels could demand concessions from Britain in return for any deal, such as the UK accepting a young mobility agreement. EU officials have ruled out that quid pro quo at this stage.
Before the election, Sir Keir said he would persuade the EU to look again at the introduction of fingerprint checks for millions of UK holidaymakers.
But one EU diplomat poured cold water on the idea of a speedy deal, saying that negotiating one would “not be a priority” for the bloc.
It came as Spain decided to impose surprise border checks with Gibraltar.
Madrid warned it would abide by the new EU electronic border rules which make it impossible to continue waiving passport checks and make the hard border permanent, unless a deal was done.
“Spain is ready for the Entry-Exit System to come into force on the date set by the European Commission, which is responsible for that decision and which the Spanish government and the interior ministry will abide by,” a spokesman for the interior minister told The Telegraph.
Madrid has piled pressure on Britain over Gibraltar since Sir Keir Starmer last week surrendered sovereignty of the Chagos Islands but the Prime Minister insists the Rock, ceded to Britain in 1715 after being captured from the French in 1704, will stay British.
An estimated 15,000 Spanish workers cross the border to the Rock every day, while many Gibraltarians have second properties in Spain or travel to the neighbouring region of La Linea to go shopping.
