The UK government has unveiled it’s draft Immigration and Citizenship Bill. The “tough new approach” will apparently represent a “sweeping overhaul of all immigration laws dating back to 1971″ (all but two of which have been passed by this government).
The UK Border Agency press release starts with some figures from a Mori poll carried out for the Home Office. The poll appears to affirm that the UK population has the appropriate level of fear, mistrust and dislike of foreigners to satisfy the Government at this time, although it is not clear whether this is seen as the cause or effect of the “tough new approach”.
The thrust of the new approach seems to be around making migrants work harder, pay more, and demonstrate more clearly just how much they want to live in Britain forever, and how grateful they are for the opportunity. For example, the government agrees with the 83% of those polled who think that “immigrants in Britain should be made to learn English“; presumably this is preferable to allowing them to learn English by choice. Tougher, perhaps.
The full press release and related explanatory and consultation documents can be found at the UKBA website here.
And some media coverage in The Times, the Guardian, and the BBC, which all focus on the plan for bail bonds alternative to detention for “illegal” immigrants.
Filed under: legal, media reports, news | Tagged: immigration, migrant, migration controls
