The London Mayor has today slammed the Government for failing to deal with immigration. It came after a report found the estimated number of irregular migrants in the UK had risen by 295,000 in six years. The interim report by the London School of Econo

The London Mayor has today slammed the Government for failing to deal with immigration. It came after a report found the estimated number of irregular migrants in the UK had risen by 295,000 in six years.

The interim report by the London School of Economics said there were around 725,000 irregular immigrants in the UK. Previous calculations in 2001 estimated there were 430,000 irregular migrants.

Boris Johnson said: "This report has identified a huge failure of Government immigration policy in just six years despite a series of Government initiatives to supposedly deal with this issue. It would take the authorities over 60 years to remove the current number of irregular migrants on current trends.

"This is a huge issue for the capital. The report clearly shows London is disproportionately affected with more irregular migrants in London than anywhere else in the UK. I believe it is perverse, particularly given the current economic climate that illegal immigrants can use public services such as the NHS and schools but are actually prevented from paying the taxes that fund these services."

The Mayor commissioned the report to explore the implications of an earned amnesty in the capital. The full report will be published this spring.