Immigration, who's right? Who's left?

John Reid's latest plans to clamp down on illegal immigrants includes plans to send text messages to those who have temporary visas reminding them when they are about to expire and asking them, ever so nicely, if they could please make arrangements to leave the country. Admittedly this is only a small aspect of the plans he was putting forward, but even so it just seems ridiculous to me.

Regardless of where you stand on the debate of immigration, it seems bizarre to think that a text message will make any difference whatsoever. How many immigrants who stay in the country beyond their visa expiry date do so because they 'forgot' or 'lost track of time'? Those who stay do so because they want to stay in the country and know full well if their visa has expired. I can't imagine a text message from the Home Office is going to make them change their minds!

And those who leave the country when their visa expires would do so without the need of a text message. What is next? Text messages to released convicts reminding them not to reoffend? And you can imagine the excuses now. 'Oh sorry, my network's been playing up', 'I changed phones and 02 were in the process of transferring my number over to my new sim card', 'My inbox must have been full.'

What's also interesting is it is yet another example of the Parties' ideological positions being somewhat confusing. As BBC news online reported, good old 'left of centre' New Labour have launched a clampdown targeting "foreigners [who] come to this country illegitimately and steal our benefits." Sounds more like the BNP to me. Then take the traditionally 'right wing' Conservatives' response. Shadow Home Office Minister Damien Green 'said the idea that most illegal immigrants were in the UK "to scrounge off the benefits system" was factually wrong, saying instead that most were in the UK to work.'

This is undoubtedly the major problem with British party politics at the moment. It's all about point scoring, disagreeing with each other and trying to appeal to more mainstream 'centre' voters. Neither party stand for what they used to, leaving those previously engaged in politics and supportive of either party feeling somewhat disillusioned. And those 'floating voters' that this mish mash of contradictory right and left wing policies offered by both parties are designed to attract have grown savvy to these tactics and are just as uninterested in either party, and in some cases politics full stop, as ever.

Sorry I'm going to have to leave it there, I've got a text message from the Home Office...