Conservative Mayor of London Boris Johnson is expected to commission a study into the feasibility of the ‘politically toxic’ issue of granting an amnesty for illegal immigrants living in the capital. The commission is expected to report in two months’ time.

The mayor’s call for an ‘earned amnesty’ for thousands of the illegal immigrants residing in London is based on his claim that the idea that these immigrants will one day be deported from the United Kingdom is ‘just not going to happen’. He believes that an estimated forty thousand people who have lived illegally in London for five years should be given the chance to ‘earn’ their citizenship. This would enable them to play a full part in life within the capital.

Ideas he has mooted include an ‘earned amnesty’ whereby after a period of approximately five years, illegal immigrants could ‘show their commitment to this society and to this economy’ and earn their right to stay in the UK. He told Channel 4 news that ‘we want to look in detail at what the economic impact of such an earned amnesty system would be’.

In suggesting this policy, Johnson shows his willingness to depart from the Conservative party line. He has expressed the view that a mass ‘programme of expulsions’ would be both costly and legally difficult, so such an ‘earned amnesty’ would save time and money, while helping to legalise the status of almost half a million of London’s inhabitants. Johnson declares himself keen to ‘lead the debate’ on this issue, despite his lack of legal powers over immigration policy.

Johnson’s ideas for an amnesty for long-standing illegal immigrants were first floated during his mayoral campaign, prompting comments from Conservative leader David Cameron that amnesties ‘just store up’ the need for further amnesties.  The conservative group within the London assembly are also opposed to such a scheme, believing it to be unworkable without stronger border controls to prevent people from entering the UK illegally with the aim of being granted legal status under future amnesties.

Johnson is expected to lobby the Labour government on this issue once the feasibility study is complete, in his role as the spokesman for Londoners’ views. The Mayor has defended his ideas as an opportunity to regularise and decriminalise those illegal immigrants in the system, and not to set up incentives for illegal immigration.