Concerns Over Immigration Practices

A recent report by the Commons’ Home Affairs Committee has expressed concerns over some aspects of the Government’s immigration policy, including its use of a single immigration target and the use of exit checks.

The Committee says that the single immigration target has proven to be too blunt and unwieldy and is based on factors which are out of the Government’s control.

It highlights that no Government of whatever political formation can control the number of people who voluntarily wish to leave the country. According to the Committee, this raises questions about future immigration policy. An arbitrary target set by ministers, however well intentioned, only serves to reduce public confidence in the ability of any Government to deliver a future pledge on immigration, it says.

The Committee is also concerned about the Government’s assurance that there will 100% exit checks on all passengers leaving the UK by 31st March 2015.

The Committee says that it supports the need for exit checks to know exact numbers of who is in the country, but is concerned about the potential delays that they could cause and the risk to security that such delays bring. Any queues that develop as a result will be highly visible and could have a serious negative impact on business, trade and tourism.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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