Brighton and Hove City Council has added its voice to calls to bring front-line officers back to a Sussex port.

Councillors unanimously backed a Conservative motion saying the withdrawal of full-time staff - replaced with an "honesty hotline" for ferry passengers with anything to declare - has turned Newhaven into a back door for drug smugglers and a potential terrorist threat.

The number of full-time Customs staff at the port has gone from 124 in 1990 to zero following a shake-up.

Officers have been shifted into roving squads which are deployed on intelligence-led operations along the South Coast.

Councillor Lynda Hyde said Shoreham had 60 permanent officials to tackle import offences.

She said: "Knowing this, smugglers would surely now make a beeline for Newhaven if they want to import illegal substances. Why can't the number across the two ports be equalised?"

Coun Hyde said the issue was particularly serious in Brighton and Hove, which has the highest drugs death rate in Britain.

An independent report last year by Lord Carlile of Berriew, into Britain's anti-terrorism laws, described small ports like Newhaven as "the soft underbelly of ports policing".

Lewes MP Norman Baker, whose constituency includes Newhaven, has already taken the issue to ministers and spoke with Customs minister John Healey earlier this year.

He is campaigning for a new tier of officers who man the port and have the power to stop suspicious vehicles until police or higher-ranking Customs officials arrive.

But Bob Gaiger, Customs spokesman for the South-East, said the new system was operating well.

He said: "We're committed to introducing this new way of working. We see it as being a far more effective and flexible way of deploying national resources to combat smuggling in whatever form it takes. This is now in place and is working well. We've had some major successes along the South Coast, where we have intercepted major smuggling attempts."