Jacqui Smith New Home Secretary "Should back amnesty for 'illegal' workers"

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has advocated that Jacqui Smith, the new Home Secretary, should back their recommendations for 'regularisation' for all those foreign nationals in the UK without status.

In a *press release issued on Sunday 16th July IPPR, said: "New Home Secretary Jacqui Smith should back a plan to allow almost half a million people who are currently living illegally in the UK to stay in Britain and pay taxes"

"Illegal immigration is a deeply difficult subject for politicians to tackle. But Jacqui Smith should listen to her Cabinet colleagues and back a plan for regularising the nearly half-million people who live and work illegally in the UK.

"The simple truth is that we are not going to deport hundreds of thousands of people from the UK. Our economy would shrink and we would notice it straightaway in uncleaned offices, dirty streets and unstaffed pubs and clubs.

"So we have a choice: make people live in the shadows, exploited and fearful for the future; or bring them into the mainstream, to pay taxes and live an honest life." Danny Sriskandarajah, IPPR's head of migration and equalities

* Jacqui Smith should back amnesty for illegal workers' IPPR 15 July 2007

Download: Irregular migration in the UK an IPPR FactFile irregular_migration.pdf

'Strangers into Citizens Campaign'
The Strangers into Citizens campaign, backed by Churches and Trade Unions, is calling for irregular migrants who have lived and worked in the UK for four or more years be granted a two-year work permit. At the end of those two years, subject to employer and character references, they should be given leave to remain.

What you can do

1. Ask your MP to sign Early Day Motion (EDM) 1371 which calls for regularization
If your MP is not one of the 88 MP's have already signed EDM 1371, please ask your MP to sign now. EDM 1371 ;
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=33150&SESSION=885

1. Ask the Home Secretary to consider the IPPR recommendations
Fax/write to Jacqui Smith, Secretary for State, download the model letter Smith-IPPR.doc (or write your own), asking her to consider the IPPR recommendations and to support EDM 1371.

Fax: 020 7035 4745 (+ 44 207 035 4745 from outside the UK)

or write to:

Jacqui Smith, Secretary of State
Home Office, 3rd Floor, Peel Building
2 Marsham Street
London, SW1P 4DF

Please notify NCADC of any faxes/letters sent:
ncadc@ncadc.org.uk

End of Bulletin:

Source for this Message:
IPPR
NCADC
Strangers into Citizens