Clearing the backlog of illegal immigrants currently in Britain could take 10 years

Guardian:

The minister's comments came after the Conservative leader, David Cameron, accused Tony Blair of being "rattled" and his government being left "in paralysis" by the latest controversy to engulf the Home Office.

Though Mr Blair conceded yesterday that nobody knew how many illegal immigrants were residing in the country, Mr McNulty later told BBC2's Newsnight it was "roughly in the ball park" of 310,000-570,000, with removals running at about 25,000 a year.

Asked how long it would take to deport them all, he said: "Assuming that we can find them, and assuming that people aren't going away of their own accord, it would take some time."
Pressed for a figure, he added: "Ten years, if you are saying 25,000 per year."

The deportation row was sparked by comments made by Dave Roberts, director of enforcement and removals at the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, who told MPs on Tuesday that he did not have "the faintest idea" how many illegal immigrants were in Britain.

Mr Roberts, who was giving evidence on Tuesday to the House of Commons home affairs committee, which is looking into immigration control, also said those who overstayed illegally were not pursued as "individuals".

Earlier yesterday, the home secretary, John Reid, admitted it was "disturbing" that the figures were not available.

But he stressed that data on illegal immigrant numbers had not been collected for at least 15 years. Speaking during a visit to a community centre on the Townsend estate in Bournemouth, Mr Reid said: "For the last 15 years these figures have not been available. That is a disturbing fact but it is not a new fact by any means. But what is new is at long last we are getting to grips with one aspect of it, which is failed asylum seekers.

"For the first time we are removing more failed asylum seekers than are coming into the country month by month."

Mr Blair, too, tried to stress those figures in his spat with Mr Cameron at prime minister's questions in the Commons. He also confirmed there were no figures for illegal immigrants.

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