Liberal Democrats have expressed delight at the news that the notorious ‘Go Home’ vans are to be withdrawn. Home Secretary Theresa May admitted that they “not been a good idea” and were a “blunt instrument”.
.@chrisshipitv: “Home Sec Theresa May will confirm within the hour that the controversial “Go Home” vans will be SCRAPPED” We did it!
— Tim Farron (@timfarron) October 22, 2013
Rushing for World at One and then 5 Live to talk about the Go Home Vans. They should never have been used; glad they won’t be again #fb
— Julian Huppert (@julianhuppert) October 22, 2013
One appalling aspect of this shameful episode is the claim by the Conservatives that they are halting the project simply because the vans were ineffective in persuading illegal immigrants to leave the country.
They still do not admit the offence that was caused to people who were legitimately in the UK; they do not recognise the implicit racism of the message; they do not understand the damage they were causing to community relations. No, they are withdrawing the vans because they did not ‘work’.
We had already learnt that the savings involved in just a handful of returnees, compared with the cost of expelling them, would have justified their existence. The implication is that the Conservatives would have rolled out the project nationwide if just a few people had volunteered for repatriation (instead of just one), irrespective of their impact on individuals and whole communities.
* Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.
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5 Comments
Great. Now for the Immigration Bill. I do hope this headlining grabbing dismissal of a head line grabbing stunt isn’t a distraction.
Hooray! let’s not forget that the Advertising Standards Agency found them to be factually misleading as well, in addition to the catalogue of issues you’ve mentioned.
I am glad that these vans are going, but I stand by my original opinion that the party overreacted to them, especially compared with our reaction to other issues.
I, along with all at “Liberal Democrats for Seekers of Sanctuary” are delighted at the announcement. We did as much as we could to lobby for the change, on not just the vans, but the racial profiling in the street, the Glasgow posters, and now the texting campaign.
It says in Guardian this morning that they will not be rolled out elsewhere as evaluation has said they are not working. However I just happened to have listened to Mark Harper (Yes it was difficult!) speaking at a Westminster debate on 9th October, saying they will evaluate in 3 months. doesn’t time fly when it is convenient politically
I expect the announcement was timed to detract from the first reading on the immigration bill – but it hasn’t, in our quarter anyway. just given the whiff of success 🙂
just a point about the use of the words “Illegal immigrant”. It is being used by those who should know better (Government), those who are trying to stir up dissent (media), but increasingly by good Lib Dems. Don’t let us catch their bad habits !
this is a reply to a question I put to the Refugee Council
the term illegal immigrant is extremely unhelpful: a person can’t be illegal. The Associated Press (one of the world’s biggest news agencies) dropped the term completely from its style guide and gave some very solid reasoning you might find useful here: http://blog.ap.org/2013/04/02/illegal-immigrant-no-more/