Citizen register ‘would help tackle welfare tourism’

BRITAIN needs a formal register of citizens to crack down on illegal immigration and welfare tourism after Brexit, a leading Westminster think tank said last night.

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A citizen register would help locate illegal immigrants who abuse the welfare system

The radical move would mean everyone in the country getting a unique citizenship number. 

Under the plan, two tiers of citizenship could be introduced to stop foreign students and other “temporary” migrants from getting free access to the NHS and other taxpayer-funded benefits. 

Policy Exchange said citizenship rules needed overhauling because the Leave vote was due to “unease over the Government’s ignorance of how many people are in the country and where they are living

Most citizens have several identification numbers including one for the NHS, one for National Insurance and another on their passport. 

The Government needs to get a grip on who is coming into Britain

David Goodhart, report author

But agencies do not share data. 

Report author David Goodhart said: “Roughly two million people arrive in the UK on visas every year and too many are overstaying. 

“The Government needs to get a grip on who is coming into Britain, where they are living and what public services they are accessing.” 

Mr Goodhart accepted that his proposed system would not in itself help control immigration but would provide ministers with a more reliable overview than it currently has. 

This would help the Government combat illegal immigration and allocate resources to areas experiencing major population surges. 

‘Ministry of Migrants’ could cut HUGE numbers of arrivals to UK