Bangladesh in the United Kingdom

Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrat party are in favour an amnesty for people who have come to Britain illegally, but both Labour and the Conservatives suggest it would actually make the problem worse.

BBC Home Affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford has written an interesting article which asks ‘Is an amnesty the answer’?

Nobody really knows how many “irregular migrants” there are in the UK, but one recent estimate by the London School of Economics put it at 618,000 – within a range of 417,000 to 863,000.

The Liberal Democrats say it is now time to “regularise” those who have been here longest, so they can integrate into the legal economy and contribute to the exchequer by paying taxes.

They are calling it an “earned route to citizenship”, but they also say they have no idea how many people would qualify.

Their manifesto says: “We will allow people who have been in Britain without the correct papers for 10 years, but speak English, have a clean record and want to live here long-term to earn their citizenship. This route to citizenship will not apply to people arriving after 2010.”

Probed further, party officials tell me that those who qualify will then have to serve a probationary period of two years during which they would have to work and pay taxes.

Then they would have to pay a fee or do voluntary service as “penance” to qualify for full citizenship.

Would an amnesty work?

What do you think? Vote Libdems