No Easy Options: Irregular immigration in the UK

Article

This report aims to tackle head-on one of the most difficult public policy issues in the UK: how to reduce irregular immigration. Given that the best recent estimate put the number of irregular immigrants in the UK at well over half a million, the scale of the phenomenon is one obvious reason why it demands attention.

However, it is not scale alone, but rather scale allied to the harm it does which provides the compelling imperative to take action on irregular migration.

The report sets out four key priorities for action - reducing real harm, containing irregularity, increasing public confidence and reducing irregularity - and policy recommendations to work both upstream (pre-arrival) and downstream, including:

- initiatives in origin countries

- cooperation with transit countries

- border security

- targeting the irregular immigration industry

- a risk-management approach to enforcement and return, and

- increasing returns.

Related items

  1. A close-up photo of a house flying an England flag from an upstairs window

    Reclaiming Britain: The nation against ethno-nationalism

    How can progressives respond to the increasing ethnonationalist narratives of the political right?
  2. Street scene in financial district, London

    Rule of the market: How to lower UK borrowing costs

    The UK is paying a premium on its borrowing costs that ‘economic fundamentals’, such as the sustainability of its public finances, cannot fully explain. 
  3. A mother and child from behind looking out of a window

    Restoring security: Understanding the effects of removing the two-child limit across the UK

    The government’s decision to lift the two-child limit marks one of the most significant changes to the social security system in a decade.