Harrumphreys Indignation Makes Good Radio

A gold star this morning to Daniel Kawczynski MP who appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme ostensibly to talk about his idea for a bank holiday to recognise the contribution of Poles to British life. On the face of it, and so it must have seemed to the producers of Today, a good liberal piece in the usual immigration-is-good-for-society vein.

Kawczynski, however, while making the case for his idea, then delivered a series of left right hooks to John Humphrys, who could be heared harrumphing indignantly in the background. Daniel, you see, had emerged from his Trojan Horse to complain about the “liberal elite” at the BBC who seem to use Polish immigration - “white Christians” as he pointed out - to highlight immigration as an issue instead of talking more about the majority of (non-white) immigrant peoples, which might lead the BBC down a more controversial and less politically correct path of analysis. Kawczynski suggested that such coverage has led to an increase in racist attacks on Poles.

To hear Humphreys almost audibly choking on his piety quite made my morning, and it might yours too. Listen again here, the interview is around 2hrs 24m in.

Government Joined Up … To Assist Illegal Immigration

OK, so we know that tax has for some time acted as a disincentive to marriage, hard work, success, and so on, but to actively assist illegal immigration?

Ken Frost, over at his ambiguously titled “HMRC is sh*te” blog, enlightens us:

When people apply for a CIS card, Tax Credits, or register for Self Employment they are required to produce several forms of ID at a Revenue office.

One of the forms of ID can be a letter from a Government department to the applicants home address.

…

Now here is where it becomes a little more tricky.

Imagine that you are a failed asylum seeker.

What would you do to prove your identity?

Yes, that’s right, you would use a letter from the Home Orifice.

It says that the failed asylum seeker is specifically forbidden from working or claiming benefits, as the failed asylum seeker has been denied rights to asylum.

…

Those in charge of HMRC have issued an edict to their staff telling them to accept these letters as a valid form of ID for verification purposes. (My emphasis - NR.)

And as AccountingWeb points out:

If you are an employer, you will also need to make ID checks on any new employee, to ensure that you are not taking on an illegal, the UK Border Agency suggests that you may use a number of documents for verification including:

An official document issued by a previous employer or Government agency, e.g. HM Revenue and Customs (formerly the Inland Revenue) …which contains the permanent National Insurance number and name of the person. A P45, P60, National Insurance number card, or a letter from a Government agency may be acceptable to demonstrate a person’s permanent National Insurance number…” (Again, my emphasis added - NR.)

Such a document will be issued once a person successfully registers for tax…

So to summarise, to satisfy an employer that you are not an illegal immigrant, you need proof from HMRC that you are registered for tax. To get that proof from HMRC you can use … the letter from the Home Office telling you that you cannot work (and by implication, be registered for employment/self-employment) in the UK.

Laugh/cry [delete as applicable].