POST-Brexit attempts by the UK Government to limit non-EU migration coupled with the uncertainty over migration within Europe during the country’s exit negotiations could lead to a “surge” in immigration to Britain, MPs warn today.

The House of Commons home affairs committee also brands as “shameful” outstanding fines of £2.5 million from employers, who have flouted the rules on migrant workers, and says the UK authorities’ inability to collect fines from those firms, which smuggle in illegal immigrants, is making a “laughing stock” of the country’s border controls.

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In a highly critical report, MPs further insist:

*the nearly 10,000 foreign criminals in British jails must leave the UK before Brexit takes place;

*the immigration directorates, especially the UK Visas and Immigration agency[UKVI], must be prepared and properly resourced to deal with the heavy extra demands facing them with the fallout from Brexit and

*EU nationals in the UK and Britons working in Europe must not be used as “bargaining chips” in the Brexit negotiations and the Government must “move quickly” to establish certainty over their status.

The committee report points out that according to UK Border Force estimates, one third of lorries arriving at the border do not have the advised standards of security, which equates to around 750,000 vehicles a year.

In 2014/15 truck drivers and companies were served with more than 3,300 civil penalties for people-smuggling, whether intentional or not, amounting to nearly £6.5m. But the MPs note around £2.5m of this has never been paid.

“As with civil penalties for illegal working, if the Home Office continues to fail to recover fines, the deterrent will not work,” says the report.

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The committee notes how in its report at the end of last year it expressed concern that the number of foreign national offenders in the community remained unacceptably high. While it says it will explore the full ramifications of Brexit on the issue in a subsequent inquiry, the MPs stress the UK is still in the EU and they expect the Conservative Government’s recent commitment, to remove significantly more Polish offenders in British jails by the end of the year, to be honoured.

They also point out that in the Q4 2015 report they warned it would likely become more difficult to remove EU national offenders from the UK “on paper” as well as in practice once Brexit had happened.

The committee says that while the number of visa applications has fallen in consecutive quarters, the number of cases received by UKVI but have yet to even be entered into the databases continues to rise.

“This is unacceptable,” declares the report. “It is a simple administrative task, which should easily be completed. The Home Office's failure to put data on computers is delaying the processing of cases and does not inspire confidence in their ability to manage this caseload.”

The MPs further note how the Home Office continues to lack an effective and efficient system for managing its immigration casework and that the number of outstanding asylum applications is at an all-time high despite their repeated warnings.

“The biggest issue relating to Brexit is migration,” declared Keith Vaz, the committee chairman.

“There is a clear lack of certainty in the Government’s approach to the position of EU migrants resident in the UK and British citizens living in the EU. Neither should be used as pawns in a complicated chess game, which has not even begun.

“We have offered three suggested cut-off dates and, unless the Government makes a decision, the prospect of a ‘surge’ in immigration will increase,” he stressed.

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The Labour MP criticised the “multiple voices and opinions” from Government ministers, which were causing uncertainty and needed to stop.

He said the prisoner transfer agreement with the rest of the EU was still in place and afforded an excellent opportunity for EU states to take back their criminals ahead of Britain's divorce from Brussels.

“There are still 9,971 foreign offenders in custody and removal centres, many of whom are from EU countries, and they must go before Brexit,” added Mr Vaz.