NC: A smart, fair, effective way of dealing with immigration
Firstly, you need to tighten the borders, Bethlehem, so that we know who is coming in and who is going out. Previous Labour and Conservative governments removed the exit controls, so we didn't know who had to leave. I would want to see those reinstalled immediately. I want to see a border police force, we have every right to police our borders. Secondly, I would make sure we direct people who come and live and work in the country, to the areas in the country where, of course, they have a job and they've got someone who can vouch for them, but also where there is space for them to live, where there isn't unreasonable strain placed on public services. And thirdly, we have to do something about the legacy about the problem created by the chaos which Labour and Conservative governments created in our immigration system. That was lots of people coming here illegally, who are now still living, years and years and years, in the shadows of our economy. I'd rather get them out of the hands of criminal gangs, so we can go after the criminal gangs, into the hands of the taxman, if they want to play by the rules, pay their taxes, speak English. That is a smart, fair, effective way of dealing with immigration.

I think I want I guess you want, Bethlehem, what everyone wants, which is just an immigration system which works. We've had an immigration system which has been absolutely shambolic. No idea who is coming in or going out, no idea who's been living here for many years. Gordon Brown talks about an amnesty, the only person actually in British politics advocating a blanket amnesty, I'm not, it's Boris Johnson, the Conservative mayor for London. What I'm saying is you can't live in denial of a problem which has been created by the chaos of the immigration system in the past. You can wish away, if either of you wish, that there are people who have been living here for a long time in the shadows of our economy. I want to go after the criminal gangs who are exploiting those people. If there are those people who've lived here for ten years, speak English, want to play by the rules, want to pay their taxes, why don't we say to them, OK, you come out of the shadows, pay your taxes, do some community service to make up for the fact that you came here illegally, and then we can free up resources to go after the criminal gangs. I think that is the right balance between fairness but also making sure we have a system which works.

CONTEXT(Help)
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Visualizing the Prime Ministerial Debates »Visualizing the Prime Ministerial Debates
Domestic questions »Domestic questions
H. How would you make immigration fairer? »H. How would you make immigration fairer?
NC: A smart, fair, effective way of dealing with immigration
1. Tighten the borders »1. Tighten the borders
2. Direct immigrants to areas where there are jobs and space to live »2. Direct immigrants to areas where there are jobs and space to live
3. An amnesty for illegal immigrants »3. An amnesty for illegal immigrants
Our immigration system has been shambolic »Our immigration system has been shambolic
Nick Clegg (Domestic) »Nick Clegg (Domestic)
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