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UK 'has no immigration policy'

16/05/2008

The government has no immigration policy and has lost control of UK border security, a pressure group has claimed.

Migration Watch has given a lukewarm reaction to the citizenship, immigration and borders bill unveiled to MPs by Gordon Brown yesterday.

Its chairman Sir Andrew Green says the legislation will "not have any effect" on reducing the number of immigrants in Britain, which he claims is the main concern of voters.

Three-quarters of Britons want to see a reduction in the number of new arrivals, he told inthenews.co.uk.

"Neither this bill nor any of the other measures proposed by the government will have any effect on reducing the numbers of immigrants, which is what the public really wants to see," he said.

Official government projections estimate the population of the UK will rise by ten million over the next 25 years, of which 70 per cent will be attributable to immigration.

Sir Andrew is calling on a cap for the number of people permitted to settle in Britain to prevent "having to build seven Birminghams over the next quarter of a century".

A spokesperson for the UK Border Agency acknowledged the British public wanted "sweeping changes" to our border security.

But the representative added that the government's "world-leading" electronic borders programme would track people coming in and out of the country, while the new Australian-style points based system would ensure only the people Britain needs can settle and work.

"Britain's sweeping programme of border reform last year led to over one million lorries being searched to check they were not harbouring illegal immigrants and a record 18,000 people were stopped from crossing the Channel illegally," a statement elaborated.