John Baron MP welcomes Government Immigration Bill

MP says Bill will prevent abuse of public services

The Government’s Immigration Bill recently passed Second Reading in the House of Commons. The Bill is designed to create a system which is fair to legal immigrants whilst also deterring those who enter Britain illegally.  Overall, it will prevent immigrants from using public services they are not entitled to, reduce the ‘pull’ factors which encourage people to come to the UK and make it easier to remove those who are here illegally.

John said,

“Britain is an outward-facing country and has a proud tradition of tolerance when it comes to persecuted minorities. Many of our brightest and best began their lives outside our shores, and Britain remains open to those who wish to make the UK home.”

“However, there is no doubt our immigration policy has recently been overly lax and was a shambles under the last Government. It is right that we bring in controls to prevent exploitation of our public services.”

Ends

Word Count: 169

Date: 5^th November 2013

Notes to Editors:

The Bill will also:

• cut the number of decisions that can be appealed from 17 to four – preserving appeals for those asserting fundamental rights;
• extend the number of non-suspensive appeals: where there is no risk of serious irreversible harm, we should deport foreign criminals first and hear their appeal later;
  • ensure the courts have regard to Parliament’s view of what the public interest requires when considering Article 8 of the European Convention on  Human Rights in immigration cases;
  • restrict the ability of immigration detainees to apply repeatedly for bail if they have previously been refused it;
  • require private landlords to check the immigration status of their tenants, to prevent those with no right to live in the UK from accessing private rented housing;
  • make it easier for the Home Office to recover unpaid civil penalties from those who employ illegal workers;
  • introduce a new requirement for temporary migrants for example overseas students, who have only a time-limited immigration status to make a contribution to the National Health Service;
  • require banks to check against a database of known immigration offenders before opening bank accounts; and
  • introduce new powers to check driving licence applicants’ immigration status before issuing a licence and revoking licences where immigrants are found to have overstayed in the UK.