Passport scam must be stopped

In the week when a scathing report revealed the extent to which

Ministers covered up the scale of their plans to encourage migrants to move to Britain, a "cash for citizenship" scam in South Yorkshire has seen eight men convicted for exploiting immigration rules.

Once again, the widespread sale of bogus citizenship tests by Sheffield-based City Wide Learning, and the Home Office's failure to heed countless warnings, creates the impression that this department is still not "fit for purpose".

Only the fullest possible inquiry into this scandal will suffice, given the extent to which Ministers have repeatedly played down concerns about the payment of bribes in return for bogus certificates.

It is also ironic that it came to pass in Sheffield – the home city of David Blunkett, the former Cabinet Minister, who paved the way for the introduction of "citizenship" tests in response to the public's legitimate concerns about uncontrolled immigration.

The intention – the need to encourage greater integration – was sound. Once again, the issue was the policy's flawed execution, and the ineffective checks that allowed this scam to take place.

As well as undermining the Government's belated attempts to tighten the country's borders, it also means that would-be migrants are being given residential status when they have virtually no command of the English language.

Yet sound use of English is critical if people are to embrace this country's values – and succeed in their own right. Isolation does not work.

The deplorable record-keeping at organisations, like City Wide Learning, will make it very difficult to compel those who benefited from this fraud to re-take the necessary tests. But it is not too late for Ministers to put in place simple measures to prevent these abuses from happening again, hence why Mr Johnson must act in order to retain the public's confidence. For, as the judge passing sentence told the conspirators, the integrity of the British passport is of national significance – and that this must be upheld at all times, even more so when the country's security is under such a sustained threat.