UK immigration enforcement end of their sentence between 1999 and 2006 without deportation consideration having been completed. By May, it was confirmed that 880 of the cases had been considered for deportation but it was too little too late and the Home Secretary Charles Clarke resigned. On 23 May 2006 the new Home Secretary John Reid stated to the Home Affairs Committee: In the aftermath of the scandal the trigger point at which foreign nationals would be considered for deportation was reduced from two years imprisonment to twelve months and plans were put in place to introduce "automatic deportation". Following an investigation into
R v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, ex p World Development Movement Ltd Foreign Secretary and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, its primary remit being to promote UK exports to the developing world ("aid through trade"). During this period, it has been alleged that there was a connection between the granting of aid and the achievement of either foreign policy goals or British companies winning export orders. A scandal erupted concerning the UK funding of a hydroelectric dam on the Pergau River in Malaysia, near the Thai border. Building work began in 1991 with money from the UK foreign aid budget. Concurrently, the Malaysian government bought around £1 billion worth of arms from