'Give amnesty to illegal migrants'

LONDON: Illegal immigrants who have lived in the UK for over seven years should be offered an amnesty to facilitate them to register as residents, pay taxes and earn citizenship, opposition Conservative party's senior strategist has said.
       
Anthony Browne, who will take up his role as policy director to the London Mayor Boris Johnson next said the only humane and practical way to deal with Britain's illegally settled community is to offer an immunity from deportation.
        
His suggestion will reignite a Westminster debate and could stoke policy tensions between Johnson and Tory leader David Cameron.
        
Writing in The Independent on Friday, Browne argued that granting an amnesty would be "far fairer, humane, better for society and more economically efficient" than the status quo. There are an estimated one million illegal immigrants in the UK and both Labour and the Tories have in the past ruled out an amnesty.