BRITAIN'S immigration policy has long been a hot issue in the South East of England, where residents feel most directly affected.

In York, it has been further down the political agenda. Only 30 asylum seekers were living here at the end of last year according to the Home Office, so the city has had other priorities.

But today the question is in both the local and national headlines. The Government's credibility was hit by the resignation of immigration minister Beverley Hughes. She was brought down by the revelation that British visas were being granted to Romanians and Bulgarians despite officials' misgivings.

Two hundred miles north of Westminster, police discovered two Romanians selling the Big Issue magazine in York. One was an asylum seeker who had outstayed his British visa. The other had broken the rules of the asylum seekers' support scheme by travelling to York.

Officers also caught another man selling the Big Issue while claiming benefits.

The police have done a fine job not only detecting these cheats, but on cracking down on city centre beggars. One officer has suggested that Big Issue sellers be banned from York if the organisation cannot clean up its act.

That would be a shame. This imaginative scheme has given many homeless people the opportunity to pick themselves off the floor, rebuild their lives and restore their self respect.

But each time one of its magazine sellers is discovered to be breaking the law, sales fall and the whole Big Issue operation suffers. It is in the charity's interests to undertake more vigorous checks before giving out vendor's badges.

Similarly, it is in the interests of the country that British immigration policy is clear and efficient. We seem some distance away from that position today.

Updated: 10:06 Friday, April 02, 2004