Blunkett suspends immigration from Romania and Bulgaria
David Blunkett has suspended all immigration claims from Bulgaria and Romania.
A row has erupted over claims that Home Office officials were asked to waive applications from the Central European countries. Mr Blunkett has launched an inquiry into the affair.
“I intend to suspend all applications… from Romania and Bulgaria as from this morning until we get to the bottom of this,” Mr Blunkett said.
The controversy intensified today when David Davis, shadow home secretary, accused a Home Office minister of misleading the public about how many immigration checks were being waived.
He said if the “catastrophic failure of immigration controls” was the result of a systematic failure, then minister Beverley Hughes was to blame.
Mr Davis further attacked what he described as a “massive, well-organised migration scam”.
The home secretary defended Ms Hughes saying the government stands “full square behind her” and would continue to do so.
James Cameron, the British consul in Bucharest, is facing disciplinary action after sending an email to Mr Davis.
He told Mr Davis the disclosures made by another whistleblower, Steve Moxon, were just “the tip of the iceberg”.
Yesterday the Tory party published the email they had received from Mr Cameron, which alleged migrants were being admitted to Britain with forged documents.
He added that immigration officials did not have the language skills to recognise forgeries and said the processing of applicants from Romania and Bulgaria were an “organised crime and UK immigration policy at its worst”.
