W.R.A.I.T.H - i understand your comments, but perhaps i did not make my thoughts clear in my original post.
i am not objecting to labour from EC countries. but as an employer, who has gladly taken on excellent overseas workers, my concern is with the DfT, and the poorly thought out system of background checks. if UK citizens have to be thoroughly vetted to work airside, the same standard of vetting must be applied to all. it is apparent that the information on overseas workers is not always to the same standard as that required for UK citizens. so either we stop employing those from overseas until they can be properly vetted, or we relax the rules for all. in the current climate, i would suggest we need to be as thorough as possible in our vetting.
a CRC is only part of the overall vetting procedure, and does not prove the applicant is not a criminal or terrorist, only that they have not been caught yet.