'˜Leave Country' texts ridiculed: The week that was March 7 to 13, 2007.

Commenting on this toughening up on an issue now identified as an electoral liability, immigration minister Liam Byrne railed against illegal immigrants “taking a job that someone else could have”.

But the plan provoked criticism from some Yorkshire MPs, when it emerged that one element of the new proposals was to send text messages to people nearing the end of their work visa or study permit period, reminding them to leave the country.

Keighley’s Labour MP Ann Cryer called the text message idea “a complete waste of time”, and said: “It’s important to address the concerns of indigenous people who don’t feel they’re getting a fair deal, but the problem now isn’t illegal immigrants but legal migration from Eastern Europe.”

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis called the plans “a serious admission of defeat”.

Twenty-four hour licensing laws had led to an upsurge in numbers of people using illegal drugs to allow them to party all night, according to police. The relaxation of licensing regulations, now a year old, meant many clubs in Sheffield were staying open all hours and South Yorkshire Police were analysing the effects of the change.

Senior officers said use of amphetamines was on the rise in the city, as the drugs gave a temporary boost in stamina.

One knock-on effect of this was that those taking amphetamines were becoming targets of crime, with increased incidence of muggings in the city in the early hours.

Women from deprived areas receive worst care for breast cancer than those living in affluent areas, according to new research published in The British Journal of Cancer.

The study, led by Professor David Forman of Leeds University, also found that women from lower socio-economic backgrounds were less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer while the disease was in its early stages –- when treatment would be most effective.

Nearly 13,000 women diagnosed between 1998 and 2000 were included in the study. It found that 40 per cent of better-off women were given lumpectomies, which conserved as much of the breast as possible. Only 31 per cent of more deprived women had a lumpectomy.

The adult minimum wage was set to rise by 17p an hour to £5.52, the Government said – meaning a pay rise for more than a million workers, two-thirds of them women. The statutory rate for 18 to 21-year-olds would rise by 15p to £4.60, while 16 and 17-year-olds would get an increase of 10p to £3.40.

Britain’s most senior military officer said the country might need to put more funding into its armed forces in the face of increasing global instability.

The Chief Of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall Sir Jock Stirrup, said the Forces were currently “very stretched” by commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Speaking to the Commons Defence Committee, he said a decision would have to be taken in the next 12 months on whether the Armed Forces could continue the “current tempo of operations within their existing resources”.

On the foreign pages, The Yorkshire Post reported that 70 people were killed and hundreds injured as a huge earthquake struck the western side of Indonesia. Children in a playground were crushed by falling debris as houses, schools and hospitals crumbled.