Zia Yusuf vows to make Britain a 'zero tolerance country for illegal working' with Reform UK crackdown

Zia Yusuf has vowed to make Britain a "zero tolerance" nation against illegal working after unveiling Reform UK's new "Deliveroo Law".

Speaking to GB News, the party's home affairs spokesman made clear that it is about "standing up for British workers" amid the "catastrophe" of illegal working.

Addressing a press conference earlier today, Mr Yusuf vowed to crack down on illegal migration, pledging to jail company bosses who use or employ illegal migrant labour.

He said: "We will introduce the toughest penalties in the world for those who employ and profit from illegal migrants.

"We will restore order to our high streets, protect the integrity of our border and return fairness to the British economy. We will stand up for British workers."

Detailing the legislation on GB News, Mr Yusuf told host Martin Daubney: "It's about standing up for British workers, and if there's a stat that sums up the decline in Britain over the last 15 years, it's that for every pub we have tragically lost, seven vape shops have opened.

"And all of your viewers will be familiar with this. They walk up and down their high street, they see vape shops everywhere, they see Turkish barber shops everywhere, they see Lamborghinis going in and out, and these very cash intensive businesses up on the high street are clearly extremely suspicious.

"The National Crime Agency says £1billion is laundered every year through those sorts of businesses."

Mr Yusuf declared Britain a "soft touch" when it comes to illegal working and illegal migration.

He said: "We've got over a million British young people, 16 to 24, not in education, not in work and not in training. That is a catastrophe. One of the key reasons is because they are competing with essentially the rest of the world, the whole world, for jobs.

"So what we have said is we are going to make Britain a zero tolerance society for illegal working from the soft touch that it is now. Right now it is a massive soft touch. In fact, that's one of the reasons they are coming.

"They come across the Channel to get taxpayer accommodation and free food, but a lot of them are moonlighting as delivery drivers and as other gig workers."

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Mr Yusuf made clear that business bosses found guilty of employing illegal workers will "face jail and fines on your business of 10 per cent of global revenues".

He told GB News: "If you are a corporate boss, if you're a multinational boss, no matter how rich or powerful you are, and your business recruits illegal workers, regardless of what your knowledge of it was, you will face jail and we will inflict fines on your business of 10 per cent of global revenues.

"Now, in doing so, that would take Britain from the soft touch, one of the most lenient and lax countries in the world for illegal workers to having the harshest regime in the world. That's how we stick up for British workers."

Asked whether the legislation would apply to CEOs of "multinational corporations", Mr Yusuf completely agreed.

He said: "Under a Reform Government, our laws will actually mean something, whether it's a 1971 Immigration Act that actually outlaws illegal working, we're not going to ignore it. If you break into the country illegally, you have broken our laws, you'll be treated as such, you'll be detained and you'll be deported if you come here and you work illegally.

"Likewise, if you are a corporate boss, we are going to place parity between serious financial crime and employing illegal workers, because one can make an argument that the undermining of the British economy, the robbing of our young people of opportunity, the exasperation that British workers feel that they never seem to get a pay rise.

"Why? Because you have these fat cat bosses, some of whose businesses literally rely effectively on submarket wages driven by illegal immigration.

"And once you've taken this incentive away as well, once you stop Britain being a ridiculous soft touch and you uphold our laws, what will happen? The migrants will stop coming here illegally."