British workers 'undercut by illegal immigrants'

Fines for employing immigrants illegally have been issued in Cumbria and the north-east of England at a rate 25% higher than the UK average.

Some 150 firms - mainly takeaways, restaurants, car-washes and barber shops - have been told to pay more than £2m in the last five years, according to Home Office data.

The penalties ranged from £10,000 to £90,000, and 11 businesses have been fined more than once.

The Labour MP for Hartlepool, Jonathan Brash, said: "British workers are being undercut by illegal immigrants."

Using Office for National Statistics data for the number of local business units, the rate at which fines were issued from July 2019 to September 2024 can be calculated.

Across the UK, about 1 in 1,200 companies received a fine; in the North East and Cumbria that figure was 1 in 960. In Hartlepool, a town of 90,000 people, more than 1 in 250 firms were fined.

One - Marmaris Barber in Guisborough - is still trading despite having to pay out £80,000.

The shop confirmed it was still giving haircuts but did not respond to further requests for comment.

Brash said a blind eye had been turned to the issue and that Hartlepool was a place already struggling when it came to employment and its local economy.

"We can't afford to be undercutting illegal workers," he said.

"It is something we've got to crack down on. It is in plain sight.

"I have no issue with people coming here to work but they have to do it legally."

The government said, since it came into power in July last year, arrests and illegal working visits by enforcement officers had gone up 38% compared with the same period 12 months previously.

The chairman of Reform UK's Sunderland Central branch, Chris Eynon, said the government needed to do "way more".

"We don't have a clue about how many illegal workers are actually in the North East and that's part of the problem," he said.

"We have a crisis of unemployment.

"We need to get British people who've lived here and paid in to the system for many years, they need to be going for these jobs not people who shouldn't be working illegally."

Illegal working laws apply not only to those who are in the UK illegally, but also to those who are allowed to be in the country but cannot work, such as asylum seekers.

When someone claims asylum, they are provided with basic accommodation and usually just under £50 per week.

However, if their claim is refused, they may be permitted to stay but can no longer receive any public money, or money from any employment.

Pete Widlinski, who co-founded the Teesside-based Mary Thompson Fund which supports asylum seekers, said he understood why some people might take work despite not being allowed to do so.

In many cases, after having an asylum claim refused, "you're still legally allowed to be in the UK", he said.

"So they have every right to be here but they've got nothing.

"You can understand that the least worst thing they can do is working illegally, rather than go robbing, burglary, or mugging people in the street."

The minister for border security and asylum, Dame Angela Eagle, said people coming to the UK have often been sold false promises.

"This ends up with unscrupulous employers undercutting law-abiding businesses and exploiting migrant workers, often treating them in inhumane ways," she said.

"That's why, as part of our plan for change, we are cracking down on illegal working at every level to end the abuse of vulnerable people, the immigration system and our economy."

Follow BBC North East on X and Facebook and BBC Cumbria on X and Facebook and both on Nextdoor and Instagram.