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Immigration Solicitors

Coalition immigration row over Cable interview continues (24 December 2013)

Date: 24/12/2013
Duncan Lewis, Immigration Solicitors, Coalition immigration row over Cable interview continues

Conservative MP Nigel Mills has suggested the LibDem Business Secretary Vince Cable should resign, after Mr Cable referred to Enoch Powell’s “Rivers of Blood” speech while commenting on Tory immigration policies on Andrew Marr’s BBC1 show on Sunday (22/12/13).

Mr Mills garnered support from Tory rebel MPs to table an Amendment to the Immigration Bill currently being read in Parliament, which would have extended border restrictions of Romania and Bulgaria for a further five years.

Earlier in December it was announced that Bill would not be read until the New Year, by which time border restrictions on the two countries would have been lifted.

Some critics said this had been a deliberate move by the coalition government to make sure the Amendment was not considered when the Bill returned to the House of Commons at the report stage in 2014.

Prime Minister David Cameron, however, has instead announced changes to limit access to benefits for new UK migrants. Home Secretary Theresa May is also considering a cap on the number of migrants allowed to come to the UK each year.

On Sunday Mr Cable said the Conservatives were damaging their party politically by trying to limit migrants to the UK – and referred to Enoch Powell’s controversial “Rivers of Blood” speech made in 1968, which some say was widely misinterpreted at the time.

Mr Mills has said Mr Cable should resign, after comparing his Tory colleagues in the coalition government with Enoch Powell – adding that Mr Cable’s comment was “ridiculous” and “out of touch with the sentiments of most British people”. Mr Mills called David Cameron’s proposals to limit benefits to new migrants “entirely sensible”.

The changes should be in place by the time border restrictions on Bulgaria and Romania are lifted on 1 January, enabling workers from those countries to move to the UK and seek work in Britain.

Many Bulgarians and Romanians already work in the UK, in jobs in the NHS and the retail and hospitality sectors.

Recently, UK business bosses such as Sir Stuart Rose of Ocado called for more migrant workers in the UK, because of their strong work ethic and willingness to work long hours for low pay.

Mr Cable referred to recent fears over mass immigration from Eastern Europe as an immigration “panic”.

Commenting on the fallout from Mr Cable’s remarks, Conservative Chairman Grant Shapps MP told the London Evening Standard newspaper:

“Vince Cable's a bit like an old uncle at Christmas – slightly rude, does not always make sense, but he is part of the extended family so you live with it."

On Sunday, the Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev told the Observer that the UK was making money out of immigration and should be happy about it. Recent research has shown that since 2000 migrants to the UK have contributed £25 billion to the UK economy.

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