Just seven landlords prosecuted for letting to illegal immigrants

The government chose Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Dudley and Walsall, as well as neighbouring Birmingham, to pilot tougher rules on the right to rent, threatening them with £3,000 fines if they do not maintain strict checks.

But since it was launched last December only seven people have been prosecuted and fined an average of £800 each.

The government has announced it will roll out the threat of legal action across the country - in response to the growing crisis in Calais, where migrants are making daily attempts to get to Britain in lorries via the Channel Tunnel.

When the Express & Star asked the Home Office for an update on the scheme we were told it was 'currently the subject of an evaluation which will be published in due course'.

But a Freedom of Information Act request has revealed the current figures across the whole of the Black Country and Birmingham.

Warley Labour MP John Spellar said David Cameron should come back to London from his holiday.

He said: "This is just another gimmick from this dilettante Prime Minister and his hopeless crew at the Home Office. He should get back to Downing Street and get a grip of this growing crisis at once."

The 'right to rent' pilot was launched for all landlords, homeowners and letting agents in Birmingham, Walsall, Sandwell, Dudley and Wolverhampton.

They were told to carry out immigration checks on all adults aged 18 and over living at the property for all new tenancy agreements.

Communities secretary Greg Clark said the Home Office was involved in the process by serving an order to the landlord.

Bill Etheridge, UKIP MEP for the West Midlands, added: "The authorities need to make sure that these regulations are followed.

"These people are also kept in business by the increasing numbers of genuine families who are unable to achieve a good enough credit rating or a guarantor, which the High Street agents insist on."

He said: "That's why this process is with the Home Office so that those people who are no longer entitled to be in this country can leave the country. The arrangement the Home Office has to return people to their country of origin tie in with this. This is precisely the point."

Home Office spokesman Catherine Ellis said: "The first phase of the right to rent scheme (in Birmingham, Walsall, Sandwell, Dudley and Wolverhampton) is currently the subject of an evaluation which will be published in due course."