Government strikes tough note on immigration

The government has struck a tough note on immigration with a proposal to require private landlords to check their tenants’ status among the legislative programme outlined in the Queen’s Speech.

An immigration bill will fine landlords who fail to carry out the immigration status checks, as well as introduce restrictions on migrants’ access to the NHS, increase fines on employers who use illegal foreign labour, bar illegal immigrants from obtaining driving licences, and restrict the right of appeal against deportation to the most serious cases. It would promote from secondary to primary legislation the existing requirement for courts to balance the public interest against the offender’s right to a family life, in an attempt to boost Home Office powers to remove perpetrators.

The bill will be introduced after the summer recess, following consultation. Other measures may be introduced by secondary legislation, including a new residency test for social housing, a one-year residency threshold for civil legal aid and a six-month time limit on benefits for EU citizens.

The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants branded the proposals for private landlord checks “a recipe for discrimination” which would increase bureaucracy, raise the cost of rent as landlords turned to agents for help, and ask landlords to make judgments that “even UK Border Agency staff and police officers have got wrong repeatedly”. It could encourage landlords to discriminate against people with foreign-sounding names or place tenants at the mercy of rogue landlords, the campaign group warned.

Small business and charity employers may benefit from a £2,000 employment allowance in the national insurance contributions bill. The bill will also remove the presumption of self-employment for limited liability partnership members.

An intellectual property bill implements reforms recommended by the Hargreaves Review to simplify the law and will also create the Unified Patent Court, which makes a UK patent enforceable throughout the EU.

A mesothelioma bill creates a compensation scheme for those exposed to asbestos who cannot trace their former employer or employer’s insurance company. It will be funded by a levy on insurance companies, and anyone diagnosed with the disease after 25 July 2012 will be able to make a claim.

An anti-social behaviour, crime and policing bill makes forced marriage and breach of a forced marriage protection order a criminal offence, and extends dog control laws to private property.

New consumer protection laws covering digital purchases may be introduced by a draft consumer rights bill. A draft deregulation bill could exempt certain self-employed people from health and safety legislation, and stop employment tribunals from exercising their Equality Act 2010 powers to make wider recommendations in discrimination cases.