Labour accuses government of failures over border control

The government is failing to tackle illegal immigrants and illegal drugs according to Labour. Credit: Stefan Rousseau / PA WIRE

Government failures over border controls have led to a significant drop in the number of illegal immigrants being deported and fewer illegal drugs being seized, according to Labour.

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is set to claim the Tories have failed to tackle illegal immigration because they were too focused on trying, but failing, to meet Prime Minister David Cameron's pledge to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands.

Ms Cooper will also accuse the government of letting "dodgy" firms get away with exploiting illegal workers and undercutting local wages while underlining Labour's plans to recruit an extra 1,000 border force workers and increase fines for firms employing staff illegally.

According to the party's analysis of House of Commons Library research, there was a drop of £125 million in the value of Ecstasy, cannabis and heroin seized by Border Force in England and Wales last year compared to 2010.

Parliamentary figures also show a large reduction in the number of employers imprisoned for using illegal workers - down from 35 in 2009/10 to 4 in 2013.

The number of employers being fined for knowingly employing illegal immigrants fell from 2,254 in 2009/10 to 2,090 in 2013/14.

A Conservative spokesman said: "Even their own MPs admit that Labour left our borders in chaos. Over five years we have tightened up the system to crack down on illegal immigration and make our borders more secure.

"Labour opposed all of this - and everything we have done to make the immigration system more robust. Their plans don't add up and their record was woeful - that's why they shouldn't be given the chance to mess our borders and immigration system up again."