MP urges law to end 'Jackal' fraud loophole

COLIN BROWN

Chief Political Correspondent

A Labour MP is calling on the Government to outlaw impersonation after he obtained a birth certificate under false pretences, like a scene from the Day of the Jackal.

Jeff Rooker, the Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, is pressing the Prime Minister to fulfil a pledge to close the loophole in the law, which was promised in a Government White Paper five years.

He believes organised gangs are using birth certificates as a fraudulent means of obtaining a wide range of benefits, including a full British passport.

Mr Rooker's involvement follows the discovery of a fraud involving two of his constituents, whose twins died at birth 30 years ago in a Midlands hospital. Three decades after their deaths, a woman claiming the identity of one of the twins was caught in a social security crackdown.

Officers checked their records on thousands of people applying for passports and discovered that a death certificate had been issued in the case of the woman. She confessed that she was a Nigerian national, using a birth certificate which had been legally obtained.

Mr Rooker said the case highlighted the need for legislation to make it an offence to impersonate people in order to obtain a birth certificate. To illustrate the ease with which birth certificates can be obtained, Mr Rooker got a copy of the birth certificate for the other twin.

In May, the Prime Minister assured Mr Rooker that the need for the legislation "has not been lost between the Home Office and the Department of Health".

"It remains the Government's intention to introduce the necessary legislation to implement the remaining White Paper proposals, when Parliamentary time permits, irrespective of the outcome of the consultation on identity cards. We are seeking to make other important reforms, however, and we have not yet been able to find a place in the legislative programme for what would be a lengthy Registration Bill," John Major said.

The failure of the Government to include a Registration Bill in the Queen's Speech for the new session of Parliament was condemned by Mr Rooker. In the Day of the Jackal, a hired assassin assumes a new identity by obtaining a birth certificate of a dead person. Mr Rooker said organised crime could easily exploit this loophole.

"The Government says it is concerned about organised fraud. One of the keys to that is the ease of access to the birth certificates. They said in 1990 they were going to close [the loophole] down. They have done nothing. That leads me to conclude that their pretence that the Immigration and Asylum Bill is to do with a social security crackdown is so much hype," Mr Rooker said.