Labour slated over illegal immigrants

Published on Monday 9 February 2009 21:22

ONLY a handful of the thousands of illegal immigrants granted clearance to work as security guards without proper checks have been deported, the Conservatives said yesterday.

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said that only 35 people mistakenly granted licences by the Security Industry Authority (SIA) had since been thrown out. He questioned how voters could have confidence in the immigration system if the government failed to deport people "when it knows who they are and where they are working".

But he was accused of "playing politics" by the immigration minister, Phil Woolas, who said the Tories did not want to protect the country's borders. The government was removing an illegal worker every eight minutes, he added.

The heated exchanges at Commons Question Time saw Mr Grayling refer to the storm over the SIA in 2007 and its failure to check if thousands of people cleared to work in sensitive security posts had the right to work in the UK.