Lib Dems urge immigrant amnesty
Illegal immigrants should be given "selective amnesty" to allow them to earn the right to British citizenship, the Liberal Democrats have said. Home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg MP said "Those staying long-term should be able to apply for permanent residence. But they should be required to fulfil a series of conditions, such as the ability to speak English", he added. Mr Clegg told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the problem of long-term illegal immigrants needed to be tackled. "This, frankly, is just in recognition of the fact that, because of incompetence or mismanagement in the immigration system over many years, we have very large numbers of people who live in this kind of twilight world of illegality and, in many cases, exploitation in the workplace which we need to deal with," he said.
