Originally Posted by
PAL62V
But if that really is the reason, then having a nice looong queue for EU travellers entering the UK should go a little to beginning the talks on reciprocity. I don't see US immigration adding extra staff for non-US passport holders (not that it matters atm!) and I don't see EU border staff being added either.
Which, with due respect, is saying more about the accuracy of what you "see" than about reality.
As an example, France's border force alone, despite plenty of automation (but less than in the UK) is over 25% larger than the UK's despite having nearly twice fewer international entries (France gets a lot more visitors than the UK but the vast majority arrive from another Schengen country without border checks).
As for the US, its border force is 6 times larger than the UK's and no, that's nowhere near proportional to the number of entries either.
The whole suggestion that somehow, automated border control would not automatically imply very significant cuts in border force numbers (or that its reversal would not necessarily entail significantly larger needs for staff) is a complete non starter.