Will Shamed Scotland Get Off Scot Free?

The heat is on the country's top law officer after being caught out employing an illegal immigrant. But there's one law for the masses and one rule for the ruling elite. Revelations that fancy-titled Patricia Scotland employed an illegal immigrant as her housekeeper, flies in the face of the 2007 UK Borders Act. But Shamed Scotland looks set to get off Scot free.

Scotland wouldn't last five minutes if a scandal like this blew up in the US. But here corruption and arrogance are rife. It's part and parcel of a fag-end government drunk on power propped up by a crony culture which thinks it can get away with anything.

What hope is there for common folk when even the country's most senior law officer faces only a wishy-washy probe after admitting she employed an illegal migrant?

It took all day before the usual spin was in place after the Mail revealed the employee had overstayed her student welcome. That is hardly surprising. Scotland is caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Hiding behind the usual smokescreen, Shameless Scotland insists that she did not knowingly employ an illegal immigrant. But ignorance is no defence in the eyes of this law.

The UK Border Agency's own leaflet for employers warns quite clearly: “Not knowing is no excuse”. It also makes clear that it is the responsibility of employers to check the immigration status of people they hire.

Predictably Macavity Brown is hoping it will all blow over and he get get on with the job of ruining the country. The attorney-general he said, had apologised to him for what she claimed was an “inadvertent mistake”. So that's alright, then?

Referring the whole issue to the UK immigration authorities is a neat device to hide behind the old excuse of showing willing and 'obeying the rules'. But these are not rules - this is the law of the land.

The onus is on the employers to prove they took all reasonable steps to make sure the employee wasn't illegal. That means checking and copying all the official documents showing entitlement to work.

The Telegraph today reports on a hapless Italian couple who were caught out and had to face a hefty £10,000 fine for mistakenly hiring two illegal immigrants even though they had National Insurance numbers for both. But then they are not part of the cosy political elite with their feet under Brown's cabinet table.

This half-baked law was introduced with a fanfare to show how tough the government is over illegal immigrants. Paying lip-service, Liam Byrne, now a home office minister, said: "We have to close down the illegal jobs that tempt people to try their luck coming to Britain.”

The very law was promoted by unelected minister Scotland, who helped push the draconian legislation through parliament.

Thanks to Ian Dale we now know Scotland's views on illegal immigrants: "We are cracking down hard on employers who flout the immigration laws." (Baroness Scotland, Lords Hansard, 13 June 2007, col 1697)

How can Ms Scotland get away with it? A clue lies in Hattie's new equalities "milestones" list of prominent women - where predictably Scotland figures prominently. The list goes to great lengths to name check New Labour politicians like Abbott and Scotland. (right, click to enlarge)

Politically-biased name checks for Scotland and the sisterhood but poor old Thatcher had been airbrushed out of Harman's history, with no mention of the Iron Lady by name, only a curt: "1979: UK's first woman prime minister".

The scandal of illegal immigrants enticed over here for a better life then branded criminals and forced into slave labour in the shady underbelly of society has been brushed under the carpet. The whole issue of immigration and 'controls' is a shambolic mess with the victims used as political footballs.

The Orange Party has long held the view there should be an amnesty but few are willing to raise their heads above the parapet and offer sensible practical solutions in the vain hope they will all go away.

Meanwhile poor souls suffer with no status and no protection, at the mercy of ruthless exploitation, forced to eek out a squalid, meagre existence in a twilight world.

That however is not the issue. This rotten law is an ass but it is the law. Real or pseudo-liberal bleatings, wouldn't cut any ice in a cold courtroom.

This whole shady charade stinks to high heaven. Brown's attorney-general has broken the law and should be sacked. More revelations in the Sundays please.