Mayor wants amnesty for illegal immigrants

Boris Johnson today condemned the Government for failing to deal with immigration after a new report revealed the number of people living illegally in Britain had risen by 295,000 in six years.

The Mayor, who commissioned the report in November, also called for an earned amnesty for those who had been in the country for several years.

The findings in an interim report released by the London School of Economics found there were approximately 725,000 illegal immigrants in Britain in 2007.

In 2001 the figure was estimated to be 430,000.

The report also showed London had about 518,000 illegal immigrants in 2007 but there were no figures available for 2001.

Mr Johnson said: "This report has identified a huge failure of government immigration policy with an estimated rise in irregular immigrants in the UK of 295,000 to 725,000 in just six years despite a series of government initiatives to supposedly deal with this issue.

"It would take the authorities over 60 years to remove the current number of irregular migrants on current trends.

"This is a huge issue for the capital. The report clearly shows London is disproportionately affected with more irregular migrants in London than anywhere else in the UK.

"I believe it is perverse, particularly given the current economic climate, that illegal immigrants can use public services such as the NHS and schools but are actually prevented from paying the taxes that fund these services.

"That's why I believe it is time for a twin-track approach to this issue. Firstly we need far tougher border controls to control the flow of people into our country.

"Secondly we need a frank debate about what to do with the half a million in the capital who are not able to join the economy legally.

"I believe we should carefully consider the merits of an earned amnesty for long-term migrants to maximise the economic potential of these people so they can pay their way.

"I do not want to be the Mayor of two categories of people in our great city, one group who live normally and another who live in the shadows unable to contribute fully to the rest of society."

In the past Mr Johnson has said he would support legalising some immigrants if they had not been in trouble with the police during their time in the UK.

Mr Johnson commissioned the report to explore the implications of an earned amnesty in the capital. The full report will be published in the spring.

Only 111,265 illegal immigrants were deported from Britain between 1998 and last year.