A viable alternative might be one Fast Track lane for EU only, and another for non-EU passport-holders with UK residency/Indefinite Leave to Remain etc. But the current system makes a mockery of the concept of Fast Track!

Fortunately since I had an Australian passport with a UK residency visa, none of this mattered. Heathrow has a separate line for residents, distinct from the EU only line and generally quicker. There’s usually no one in it.

The point of Fast Track is to be fast. I would not expect to be Fast Tracked through immigration on arrival in, for instance, Saudi Arabia – since that is a country for which I need to hold a visa in advance. I would expect to be stopped, to have my visa checked closely, to be asked why I am visiting the country – perhaps more – regardless of whether I travelled business class or not. On the other hand, a Saudi passport-holder can expect to pass straight through. They would have a right to be peeved if they found themselves stuck behind a British journalist being questioned at length about his visit – not because of the journalist’s nationality, but because they simply shouldn’t have been channelled into the same queue.

Surely it’s the same for EU passport-holders arriving at an EU airport like Heathrow?

Fast Track is misnamed. “Business Class Arrivals Of All Nationalities” would be much more truthful!