Tag Archives: go home vans

Immigration minister Mark Harper quits. An honourable resignation? Inevitable is nearer the mark

By Stephen Tall | Sat 8th February 2014 - 7:30 pm

Mark Harper, Conservative immigration minister, today resigned after learning his cleaner did not have permission to work in the UK. Here’s how the BBC reports it:

Mr Harper notified Prime Minister David Cameron, who accepted his resignation “with regret”, Number 10 said. It added there was “no suggestion” the 43-year-old Conservative MP for the Forest of Dean had “knowingly employed an illegal immigrant”. Fellow Tory James Brokenshire has been appointed the new immigration minister.

His resignation is being hailed as honourable, though I think inevitable is nearer the mark. There is no suggestion he acted illegally, and in his own version …

Posted in News | Also tagged featured, immigration, immigration bill and mark harper | 24 Comments

Opinion: Time to expose UKIP

By Issan Ghazni | Fri 27th December 2013 - 1:00 pm

The recent expose of UKIP’s Victoria Ayling, who wants to send all immigrants “back home” offers a glimpse at the nasty side of this party which Nigel Farage would rather keep hidden.

Talk of ‘repatriating’ of immigrants sends a cold shudder up my spine as I remember the 1970s rhetoric of when that phrase applied exclusively to those from the Commonwealth.

As a European candidate in the East Midlands, the same region Ayling is from, I want voters to be informed the true face of UKIP.

For a party which many commentators speculate will reap the most votes in next May’s …

Posted in News | Also tagged european elections 2014, nigel farage, ukip and victoria ayling | 51 Comments

Nick Clegg stops Theresa May’s £3000 immigration bond

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 3rd November 2013 - 9:26 am

Way back in March, in a speech that, to say the least, was not well received in the party, Nick Clegg proposed that some people visiting Britain from “high risk” countries should pay a bond. He said:

One idea, which appeals to me, is a system of security bonds. And so I’ve asked the Home Office to do some work on it with a view to running a pilot before the end of the year.

Posted in News | Also tagged home office, immigration, nick clegg and theresa may | 5 Comments

Tim Farron writes… A liberal win on ‘Go Home’ vans

By Tim Farron MP | Tue 22nd October 2013 - 6:39 pm

Since I have been President I have worked hard to try and make sure members views are heard in the heart of government. Banging on ministerial doors to try and make policy after policy better and more liberal.

Over the summer the ‘Go Home’ vans came onto our streets. At the time I joined Sarah Teather and, oddly, Nigel Farage to oppose them. (Who says politics doesn’t give you strange bedfellows!)

My view was clear both then and now: The vans represented the worst kind of divisive politics and …