Sir Edward Leigh

Sir Edward Leigh

Conservative — Gainsborough

Speaking in the House of Commons on 2 June 2025

Debate

Illegal Working

Contribution

Could I be counterintuitive for a moment and make a New Labour point? The cause of a lot of illegal migration is the fact that it is easier to work here illegally than anywhere else in Europe, and that is because we do not have national identity cards. The Gordon Brown Government, quite wisely, were going to bring them in, and the coalition Government wrongly stopped that idea. Why should we not have national consensus now on bringing in national identity cards, given that we all carry mobile phones? It would dramatically reduce illegal working.

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