Minister admits immigration mistakes

Published on Monday 2 November 2009 21:23

HOME Secretary Alan Johnson admitted yesterday that the government had made mistakes over immigration policy.

In his first speech on the topic, Mr Johnson said Labour had been "maladroit" in its handling of the issue. He also accepted some parts of Britain were "disproportionately" affected, with an influx of new arrivals putting a "strain" on jobs and services.

In a speech in London, he said: "The legacy problems with unreturned foreign national prisoners and asylum-seekers may have accumulated under previous administrations, but they continued to be ignored for far too long on our watch."

The speech signalled a tougher line from Mr Johnson. While accepting genuine refugees, the "moderate majority" wanted Britain to return illegal immigrants, failed asylum-seekers and foreign national prisoners, he said.

Last night, Sir Andrew Green, chairman of right-wing think-tank MigrationWatch UK, said the apology was "three million immigrants too late".