Latest Channel 4 News:
Afghanistan deaths soldiers named
Kraft reverses Cadbury factory vow
Broadwater Farm murder: man held
Arrest amid playgroup sex probe
Briton dies in 'bungled robbery'

Boris: expulsions too expensive

Updated on 21 November 2008

By Cathy Newman

London Mayor Boris Johnson breaks with Tory party policy by suggesting an amnesty for illegal immigrants in Britain.

Despite an election campaign littered with politically incorrect references about race.

Johnson has told Channel 4 News that he believes it's just too expensive to remove them.

"A mass programme of expulsions... hasn't worked: it's legally incredibly difficult, (and) it's expensive for the state.

"What I want is to lead a debate about how sensibly to deal with the 400, 000 people who are living here (London) and working here illegally," he said.

The comments put him directly at odds with Conservative leader David Cameron.

Send this article by email

More on this story

Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of external websites.


Watch the Latest Channel 4 News

Watch Channel 4 News when you want

Latest Domestic politics news

More News blogs

View RSS feed

FactCheck on spending

Alistair Darling (picture: Reuters)

David Cameron and Alistair Darling clash over spending.

Iraq inquiry: day by day

Tony Blair mask burnt during protest outside the Iraq inquiry. (Credit: Getty)

Keep track of Sir John Chilcot's Iraq war findings day by day.

Cathy Newman on Twitter

cathynewman

Peter Hain, Eric Pickles and Chris Huhne just interrupted each other about voting reform - never easy on the ear. Watch on 4+1 at about 8.35

Today at 20:05

Follow us

Snowclouds

See how many times a word is used in key speeches, and in what context.

The Freedom Files

Freedom Files

Revealed: the stories they didn't want to tell.

Making a FoI request?

Channel 4 News tells you how to unearth information.




Channel 4 © 2010. Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of external websites.