Calais jungle. Wikicommons/MalachyBrowne. Some rights reserved.Last week, a meeting took place in the British House of Commons which sought to highlight some of the less discussed aspects of the UK’s 2014 Immigration Act and the 2015-16 Immigration Bill.
One of the speakers on the panel[1], the long-serving Liberal Democrat peer, Baroness Sally Hamwee, described the latter as “the nastiest bill I’ve ever come across”.
Indeed, the Bill creates a new offence of illegal working and gives immigration officials wide-ranging powers to seize property and earnings, to close down businesses and to enter and search properties. Its impact will be felt widely on small businesses such as late-night takeaways and off licences, which may be less able than larger organisations to deal with the additional burden of carrying out and recording frequent and complex immigration checks.
