According to Bloomberg News, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is seeking a deal with the European Union to simplify travel for UK citizens to the bloc. Sunak aims to capitalize on the recent

improvement in UK-EU relations to enable Britons to use EU e-gates for passport checks, thus expediting border crossings.

While no formal proposal has been made, diplomats have informally raised the issue, as per a British official cited by Bloomberg. In February, the UK and the EU agreed on trading arrangements for Northern Ireland, which is subject to EU rules due to its open border with Ireland post-Brexit.

As of 2024, the EU plans to permit biometric data collection from citizens of the UK and other “third-country” nationals for obtaining a visa waiver. However, the UK government is concerned that this will not entirely eliminate delays and is therefore pushing for unrestricted access to the bloc's e-gates, as per insiders cited by Bloomberg. Photo by Elliott Killingbeck, Wikimedia commons.