UNCONTROLLED IMMIGRATIONS: Illegal Workers' Pay To Be Seized

Prime Minister David Cameron will say uncontrolled immigration can damage UK labour market and push down wages

Illegal workers will be stripped of their earnings under "radical" new laws to control immigration being unveiled by David Cameron.

Foreign criminals who face being kicked out of the country will also be tagged and tracked by GPS satellites while "deport first, appeal later" measures will be extended to all non- asylum cases, the Prime Minister will announce.

The plans to curb legal and illegal migration include "rooting out" those not entitled to be in the country, he will say.

Press Association report continues:

Mr Cameron made a "no ifs, no buts" pledge in 2010 to reduce net migration - the number of people entering the country minus the number leaving - to the tens of thousands but spectacularly failed to meet the promise. Under the coalition Government, the figure rose from 244,000 in 2010 to 298,000 in 2014.

He will give his immigration speech in central London as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes its latest round of migration figures.

"A strong country isn't one that pulls up the drawbridge, it is one that controls immigration," Mr Cameron will say. “Because if you have uncontrolled immigration, you have uncontrolled pressure on public services a nd that is a basic issue of fairness.

"Uncontrolled immigration can damage our labour market and push down wages. It means too many people entering the UK legally but staying illegally. The British people want these things sorted.

"That means dealing with those who shouldn't be here by rooting out illegal immigrants and bolstering deportations. Reforming our immigration and labour market rules so we reduce the demand for skilled migrant labour and crack down on the exploitation of unskilled workers. That starts with making Britain a less attractive place to come and work illegally.

"And we're going to get far better at training our own people to fill these gaps from overseas.

"Our one-nation approach will be tougher, fairer and faster. With this Immigration Bill, and our wider action, we will put an end to houses packed full of illegal workers; stop illegal migrants stalling deportation; give British people the skills to do the jobs Britain needs. We are for working people. For them, we will control and reduce immigration."

Under an Immigration Bill to be included in next week's Queen's Speech, a new offence of illegal working will be created that is aimed at deterring migrants who enter the country without permission. It will give police powers to use proceeds-of-crime laws to seize wages from all illegal migrants.

Councils will be given powers to deal with unscrupulous landlords and speed up the evictions of migrants who are in the country illegally.

Banks will be forced to check accounts against illegal migrant databases while businesses and recruitment agencies will be banned from carrying out overseas recruitment without advertising in the UK.

Exploitation of workers will also be tackled through a labour market enforcement agency.

Mr Cameron will say: "Dealing with those who shouldn't be here... that starts with making Britain a less attractive place to come and work illegally.

"The truth is it has been too easy to work illegally and employ illegal workers here.

"So we'll take a radical step - we'll make illegal working a criminal offence in its own right.

"That means wages paid to illegal migrants will be seized as proceeds of crime and businesses will be told when their workers' visas expire. So if you're involved in illegal working - employer or employee - you're breaking the law."

Home Secretary Theresa May estimated the number of illegal immigrants was "significant" and said the Government wanted to widen deportation powers.

She told Sky News: "No official figures have ever been put but obviously we are enhancing our ability through exit checks to identify those who have left the country and therefore identify overstayers. We are looking at significant numbers.

"We want to extend the (deportation rules) so that people who have no right to be here but are able to appeal are able to be deported and then appeal."

Saira Grant, legal and policy director of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), said extending the cases in which people are deported before appeal would be "extremely detrimental".

"Access to justice is virtually impossible. How do you communicate with your lawyer? How do you gather evidence for your appeal? How do you represent yourself at your appeal?" she asked on BBC Radio 4's Today.

The other measures would "make very little difference" as most of the powers already exist, she said, and there were serious doubts about the practicality of seizing wages of people working cash-in-hand in low-paid work.

"More importantly we are talking about very vulnerable people, with very little money as it is, often supporting families."

But Mrs May told the programme most illegal workers had been legitimately in the workforce but overstayed visas.

Asked what practical difference it would make, she said: "It makes a very real practical difference, if I may say so, in terms of acting as a deterrent for people who are trying to be here illegally.

"This isn't about revenue raising. It is about making it harder for people to be here illegally and it is about setting a very clear deterrent for people who want to stay here illegally.

"Of course we will be interested in the practicalities and we will be working them through."

She said reducing annual net migration to five figures was an "ambition" but declined repeatedly to give any assurance on when such a reduction could be achieved.

"It is the ambition we have set very clearly in our manifesto. That is what we are working to."