Queen's speech clamps down on immigration: but what does it mean for the Irish in Britain?

Image: Smabs Sputzer

The State Opening of Parliament took place yesterday in Westminster, where the government outlined its priorities for the legislative season ahead. In her traditional speech, the Queen highlighted the proposed Immigration Bill, to clamp down on illegal labour and the use of public services by immigrants.

But what does it mean for the Irish living in the UK?

The Bill is still in its infancy, but points addressed in yesterday's speech include:

• Limit access of migrants to the National Health Service
  
• Make deportation of foreign nationals who commit serious crimes normal procedure
  
• To make it easier to deport illegal immigrants in the UK
  
• Force fines on companies using illegal labour
  
• Require landlords to check immigration status of their tenants
  

The Bill will implement certain restrictions on illegal immigrants to make their access to services more difficult. It has also been described is widely seen as an attempt to put new restrictions in place ahead of an expected migration surge when Bulgarian and Romanian citizens receive the same right to work in the UK as other EU citizens at the end of 2013.

As EU citizens, all Irish migrants to the UK have the right to live and work there, and measures to make it easier to deport illegal migrants will not apply to Irish citizens. Equally, both landlord checks and the fines for use of illegal labour will not affect legitimate EU workers, including Irish nationals.

The proposed limitations on access to national services such as the NHS may, however, affect new arrivals in the UK. The NHS is publicly-funded through taxes, and new migrants who use the service – without having contributed to its cost through taxes – may be considered a drain on resources.

The British government want migrants to make some sort of contribution to the service, but has yet to spell out in what form. Writing in The Guardian, home affairs editor Alan Travis notes that two options stand out: 'it means they will be required in future to have private health insurance or to post some kind of "NHS bond" before they come.'

It is also possible that international agreements will be set up for Ireland and other nations to contribute to the cost of NHS care on behalf of their citizens.

Deportation of those convicted of serious criminal offences is already a common practice in the UK, but the proposed changes would reinforce this principle in the courts.

Other measures being considered are a 12-month residency test for legal aid, and a six-month limit on jobseeker's allowance for unemployed migrants (which is already standard practice in some EU countries).

Delivering her speech, the Queen said that the 'government will bring forward a bill that further reforms Britain’s immigration system. The bill will ensure that this country attracts people who will contribute and deters those who will not.'

Categories: UK, Immigration, Law, Welfare, Benefits, Politics