Stop these shams

Either this public body is becoming more adept at identifying those companies that break the law by using cheap foreign labour in contravention of employment and immigration legislation, or such instances are on the increase. This remains a sensitive issue, even more so when placed alongside official confirmation that immigration officers successfully prevented 70 sham marriages from taking place in just one month at Leeds Town Hall. And, because of this, both of these reports need placing in a wider social context.

Most overseas people living and working in Yorkshire do so entirely legitimately. They have the necessary visa or immigration status. Alternatively, they could be hail from Eastern Europe and, therefore, be free to work here under EU legislation.

It should also be pointed out that immigrant labour continues to underpin the National Health Service and hospitality industry – they are prepared to undertake tasks, often menial and paid no more than the minimum wage, that many unemployed workers would not be prepared to undertake.

That said, the UK Border Agency must be far more robust with those who flout the law. The companies concerned need far stiffer fines than the current penalties that appear not to be having a sufficient deterrent effect – and it needs to make an example of the illegal immigrants in question and deport them to their homeland. Britain has been allowed to become a soft touch for too long.