Nigel today welcomed the announcement by the Prime Minister that tough new measures will be included in an Immigration Bill to be published in the Queen’s Speech next week.
The Bill will include the introduction of a new criminal offence of ‘illegal working’ which will close an existing loophole in the law that means illegal immigrants and those who have overstayed their visa cannot be prosecuted for working. The Bill will also ban companies from only advertising jobs abroad before looking for British workers.
Speaking this morning Mr Evans said,
‘This Bill is not about putting up a wall around Britain, but it is about making sure that the rules are properly adhered to. The levels of immigration we saw under the last Labour Government were unsustainable and did real damage to our labour market and hit the wages of everyday people.
During the recent election campaign immigration was one of the biggest issues of concern for the people of the Ribble Valley and I am confident that the announcement of this Bill will demonstrate that this Government is tackling immigration seriously.”