Cuddly John Reid courting Mail readers again

[Gilps]

Lovely

 

Reid promises 'stronger borders'

 

Home Secretary John Reid is expected to announce plans to "strengthen" UK immigration controls, with tougher ID checks and rules on entry by marriage.

 

It is thought he will raise the minimum age at which foreign nationals can receive marriage visas from 18 to 21.

 

According to reports, this will mean about 3,000 fewer people - mainly women from India - will come to the UK.

 

Mr Reid will also announce more use of biometric technology for security checks at ports and airports.

 

The home secretary told Sky News that opinion polls repeatedly showed that Britons' highest priority was "fair and effective" management of immigration.

 

Iris scanners

 

He said new measures would include a requirement for people intending to come to the UK to show a Visa, before they leave their country of origin.

 

They would also look at using new technology, like fingerprint or iris scanners, to prove identities, uniforms for border control officials, and reducing the number of people arriving as a result of forced marriages.

 

"This is the next stage in a six or seven year plan, year on year, to restore some really effective control to the tracking of people in or out of the country," he told Sky News.

 

Under the change to the marital entry requirement, the minimum age of the UK spouse will also have to rise to 21.

 

Officials say this will reduce the number of immigrants coming to the country as a result of forced marriages.

 

About 15,000 British people marry foreign nationals from outside the European Union each year.

 

The government is also expected to introduce confidential interviews for people entering the country to make sure they have not been forced into marriage. Under the proposals, intended spouses will be expected to show some proficiency in English.

 

The Home Office's plans include a proposal to run a pilot scheme to send text messages reminding people not to overstay their visas.

 

It also proposes charging immigrants more in fees for leave to remain and naturalisation.

 

Habib Rahman, chief executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said: "The new rules could effectively deny UK settlement and citizenship to some of the children in these families indeterminately, while the fees relative to these groups' lower incomes are swingeing.

 

"It is completely unfair that these vulnerable groups should bear the brunt of the costs of increased immigration enforcement."

 

Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have accused the home secretary of putting rhetoric above action.

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