Phil Woolas, one of the harshest of immigration ministers, has lost his parliamentary seat for distributing misinformation about immigration to tar his opponent. The ejection of Phil Woolas from Parliament, and suspension from the Labour Party, on 5 November 2010, for untruthful and inflammatory statements made when campaigning in the general election earlier in the
Issue: Books, pamphlets & multimedia
The end of settlement rights for workers?
Theresa May’s 5 November announcement of proposed reforms of the settlement rules envisages a system of temporary, rightless and dispensable ‘guest-workers’, with only the highest earners deemed deserving of permanent stay. The Home Secretary said that it is currently ‘too easy’ to move from temporary residence to permanent settlement. ‘If people enter this country saying
The politics of voluntary returns
Outrage greeted French prime minister Sarkozy’s description of the mass expulsion of Roma as ‘voluntary’ – but what is the reality of voluntary return programmes in the UK? The International Organization for Migration (IOM), an intergovernmental body which implements most voluntary return schemes, received around £70 million from the Home Office since 2005 (including money
New stringent English language requirements
New immigration rules imposing more stringent conditions on the entry of spouses and partners of British citizens are causing alarm to migrants and human rights groups. The amendments, which are to come into force on 29 November, require visa applicants seeking to join British or settled husbands, wives or civil partners in the UK to
Duplicity behind immigration cap
Electoral politics, rather than economic necessity, are behind the cap on non-EU economic immigration. On 19 July, an ‘interim cap’ is to be imposed on non-EU economic migration to the UK, pending more permanent measures which will be introduced in March 2011. The cap will affect those seeking entry for work under the points-based system.
Acclaimed photographer barred
Yusuf Sayman, a Turkish photojournalist based in New York, was refused a visa to attend his multimedia exhibition at Kings College London for the launch of the International State Crime Initiative (ISCI) on 14 June. The exhibition was specially commissioned by ISCI, and Sayman travelled to Turkey and Iraq in spring 2010 to photograph and
Home Office rides roughshod over international students
New rules seriously affecting international students and language colleges have been pushed through parliament in defiance of proper procedures. In April 2010, new restrictions on international students and their families were brought into force. Under the new rules, non-degree students’ permitted working hours are halved, from twenty per week to ten, and their dependants, are
Destitution shame
A report from the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) examines the human misery caused by destitution. ‘No home from home: homelessness for people with no or limited access to public funds’ finds that the government is not complying with international human rights norms in its treatment of new European citizens, refused asylum seekers, victims
Subject to British values
New nationality legislation will create a class of subjects not citizens. The one thing which can be said for the empire was that anyone who was born anywhere in its far-flung corners was legally British by birth. True, various stratagems were employed to prevent these imperial subjects from settling in the mother country, but at
WorldBridge – the UK’s new drawbridge?
When Neil Clarke of UNITED[1] organised a conference in Sheffield, he stumbled across a new series of obstacles for those seeking visas for the UK. Organising a conference bringing together delegates from the 560 or so anti-racist, anti-fascist, refugee and migrant support groups in seventy European countries which make up UNITED is no easy task