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The EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission) has raised serious concerns about the legality of the government’s decision to install full-body scanners at UK airports.

The machines, which use microwave technology to ‘see through’ clothing, have already been introduced at London Heathrow and Manchester airports. The machines are capable of revealing explosive material that would not set off metal detectors and cannot be found using physical body searches.

The chair of the commission, Trevor Philips, said in a letter to the Transport Secretary Lord Adonis that the EHRC ‘has serious doubts that the decision [...] complies with the law’. The commission is concerned that the absence of safeguards mean that the authorities are unable to check if passengers are being discriminated against on the basis of their race, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation or disability.

A spokesperson for the Department of Transport said that the safety of the travelling public was the highest priority and would not be compromised. The Department was committed to ensuring that the security measures are legal, proportionate and non-discriminatory. Passengers would be chosen at random and not on the basis of personal characteristics.

The Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesman, Chris Huhne, expressed concern that the Government was pressing ahead with the use of the scanners without addressing privacy concerns and safeguard issues.

Mr Philips acknowledged that full-body scanning and other security measures are undertaken for good reasons. He conceded that the Christmas Day incident over Detroit where explosives were concealed in undergarments meant stepping-up security levels. However, the concern of the EHRC was that national security policies would destroy the very liberties that they were designed to protect.