Labour Says Government Doesn't Have A Grip On Immigration

16th April 2014

Please discuss, without getting enraged.


Just over a third of immigration arrests following tip-offs from the public resulted in deportation in 2013, the Home Office has revealed.

Figures show 4,535 arrests were made for immigration offences after allegations by members of the public.

Of these, 1,585 people were removed from Britain, and only 15 cases prompted criminal prosecutions.

Labour said it showed the government "can't get a grip on illegal immigration".

Shadow immigration minister David Hanson, who obtained the figures in a written parliamentary answer from immigration minister James Brokenshire, described the figures as "a shocking record and one that the government should be ashamed of".

'Shambolic'

A Home Office spokesperson responded that the immigration system left in place by the previous Labour government "was shambolic and open to abuse".

"We are building a system that is fair to British citizens and legitimate migrants and tough on those who abuse the system and flout the law," the spokesperson added.

"We take all reports of illegal immigrants in the UK seriously, but not all the information we receive is accurate. When tip-offs do lead to arrests, there are many legal barriers that can prevent speedy deportation."

The government is trying to remove these "barriers" by making it easier to deport foreign criminals and migrants who are in the UK illegally, through the Immigration Bill currently before Parliament.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27052266

What the irony of Labour criticising this government for immigration?

no one has had a grip on it for about 40 years that's the problem..

sphinx wrote:What the irony of Labour criticising this government for immigration?

Unbelievable isn't it?

The Border Force and Uk Border Agency are a shambles - not fit for purpose.
Not speaking about the workers on the controls, but the asses leading them.
Ffs, their boss is a retired Sea Lord , Admiral Sir Richard Montgomery.
Really well qualified! !

Rather a successful ex forces employee than this one:

Linda Margaret "Lin" Homer, CB (born March 4, 1957)[1] is a British civil servant serving as Chief Executive of HMRC, the UK's tax collection department.

Homer was born in Norfolk and educated in Suffolk at Sir John Leman High School where she served as head girl. After attending University College London to read for an LLB, she qualified as a lawyer in 1980 whilst at Reading Borough Council. In 1982 she joined Hertfordshire County Council where she stayed for 15 years, rising to Director of Corporate Services. She then left to join Suffolk County Council as chief executive in 1998. After four years at Suffolk, Homer went to be the chief executive of Birmingham City Council in 2002.[2] In 2005, Homer was criticised by the Election Commissioner for failings in her role as returning officer during a postal vote-rigging scandal involving Labour candidates the previous year, described by the Commissioner as one that "would disgrace a banana republic", and involving hundreds of votes failing to be counted.[3] Homer defended her role to the Election Commission, saying she had been in "strategic, not operational control", and had confined herself to "motivational management and fire fighting".[4]

Homer resigned from her post shortly afterwards, joining the civil service as the Director-General heading the Immigration and Nationality Directorate of the Home Office, in August 2005.[5] The Home Office was re-organised in 2008, with the formation of the Border and Immigration Agency, later renamed the UK Border Agency, of which Homer became the first chief executive.[6] In 2013, Homer's tenure at UKBA was criticised for its "catastrophic leadership failure" by the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, which said it had been repeatedly misled by the Agency. Committee chairman Keith Vaz said her performance was "more like the scene of a Whitehall farce than a government agency operating in the 21st century".[

Isn't that a bit like Hitler blaming Churchill for the Blitz?

Tesstacious wrote:Isn't that a bit like Hitler blaming Churchill for the Blitz?

I think what is far closer to the truth Tess is that both Tory and Labour governments over the years have been to blame...

To lay that at solely at any governments door so just nonsense.