Rudd vows to get tough on illegal immigration
THE Home Secretary has announced a crackdown on illegal immigration and set out tough new measures to deport foreign criminals.
Amber Rudd laid out a three-stage plan to slash the numbers coming into Britain and announced a £140m fund to help ease the strain on public services in places with high levels of immigration.
And she reissued the pledge to get immigration numbers down to the tens of thousands – but warned this “will not happen overnight”.
In her first speech to the Conservative Party conference as Home Secretary, she told activists the vote to leave the EU was a “clear message” from the British people to tackle high immigration.
She said the Government will implement a three-pronged attack on illegal immigration by going after the landlords, employers and banks that allow them to function.
She said: “So today, I am announcing that from December, landlords that knowingly rent out property to people who have no right to be here will be committing a criminal offence.
“They could go to prison.
“Furthermore, from December, immigration checks will be a mandatory requirement for those wanting to get a licence to drive a taxi.
“And from next autumn, banks will have to do regular checks to ensure they are not providing essential banking services to illegal migrants.
“Money drives behaviour, and cutting off its supply impact.”
Ms Rudd laid out plans to cut migration into the UK and said ministers will launch a consultation on whether businesses and universities should face stringent new tests before they are allowed to recruit workers and students from overseas.
She said a “tick-box culture” has allowed some firms to get away with not training local people and that ministers will consider if new tests to “ensure people coming here are filling gaps in the labour market, not taking jobs British people could do” should be imposed. And British universities that are not from the top tier may have to do more to justify why they are offering a place to a foreigner.
Ms Rudd said: “We will also look for the first time at whether our student immigration rules should be tailored to the quality of the course and the quality of the educational institution.”
She warned that some foreign students are turning up to study in the UK without being able to speak English properly, while their families are allowed to work here.
“We need to look at whether this one-size-fitsall approach really is right for the hundreds of different universities, providing thousands of different courses across the country”, the Home Secretary said. “I’m passionately committed to making sure our world-leading institutions can attract the brightest and the best.” will have an