Illegal immigrants entering Italy could be jailed for up to four years under controversial proposals drawn up by the centre-right government of Silvio Berlusconi.

A bill to be considered in cabinet before the government's summer break has been drawn up by Berlusconi's two main coalition allies, the "post-fascist" National Alliance and the separatist Northern League. Both parties campaigned on a platform of zero immigration during the elections that swept the right to power in May. They claimed that Italy, with its long, poorly policed coastline, was becoming an easy entry point into the European Union for immigrants from north Africa and eastern Europe. The bill will give illegal immigrants one week to leave Italy after they are served with an expulsion order. If they fail to do so, they can be jailed rather than being sent to detention centres and then expelled as at present. About £20m is expected to be earmarked for expulsions. Legal immigrants will in future be allowed to bring in only their spouses and children under 18, rather than their parents, brothers, sisters and even cousins. There will also be restrictions on provisions that allow immigrants already in Italy to "sponsor" newcomers. Immigration was one of the central topics of the campaign, with the right regularly linking illegal immigration to the crime rate. About 77,000 people have been caught entering Italy illegally in the past decade, but as many as 200,000-300,000 more are believed to arrive undetected each year.