Forum Topic

Coming to a borough near you...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-23419848

Paul Scullion ● 4399d33 Comments

Phil,you wrote 'I form the impression that you think you are being smart.  All you are actually doing is demonstrating yet again that your party has no more scruples than Labour and that it absolutely cannot be trusted in coalition.'I dont know you from Adam but give it a rest. You come across as some politics obsessed ... well you fill in the rest.

Nic Doczi ● 4393d

Well, after Phil Woolas nothing would surprise me.

Phil Andrews ● 4393d

The Home Office adverts simply warn people to obey the laws. Similar adverts could be placed on TV or in newspapers but the Home Office probably decided that using advertising vans would be more cost-effective. The vans have certainly succeeded in getting the message across effectively because they have gained wide -and free-  publicity.I fail to see why anyone, particularly a Cabinet Minister, sees anything wrong with that.Apparently Yvette Cooper, the Labour Party's Home Affairs spokesperson, hsa remained silent on this issue. Perhaps she has more sense than Vince Cable.

David Giles ● 4393d

What utter rubbish.  Either you think the people you are addressing are stupid David or else you are on a wind-up.Of course coalition partners should consult each other before embarking on potentially controversial stunts such as this.  You would be the first to complain if a Lib Dem minister did something similar without reference to his Conservative partners.I form the impression that you think you are being smart.  All you are actually doing is demonstrating yet again that your party has no more scruples than Labour and that it absolutely cannot be trusted in coalition.

Phil Andrews ● 4394d

The Home Office is responsible for immigration policy and control.There is absolutely no need for  Teresa May, the Home Secretary,  to consult with Nick Clegg, Vince Cable or any other Liberal Democrat, about matters for which she and not they are responsible.Quite frankly I was appalled by Vince Cable's comments on this issue on the BBC this morning. They were a clear breach of the doctrine of collective responsibility and demonstrated that the Liberal Democrats, like the Labour Party, cannot be trusted to support and  enforce the law of the land on this issue.We all known that for many years the Labour Party turned a blind eye to illegal immigration. There was the famous case of a Labour Attorney General who herself employed an illegal immigrant. It is now quite apparent that the Liberal Democrats cannot be trusted to support and uphold the law of the land on this issue either.

David Giles ● 4394d

Whatever makes you think that Clegg has a backbone, have you forgotten that the Lib-Dems are in receipt of their collective thirty pieces of silver?

Vanessa Smith ● 4394d

Surely it is alarming when a party that lacks a majority in parliament forgets the fact, and behaves as if it had one?If I were Clegg I would be making a much bigger issue of this.

Phil Andrews ● 4394d

alarming to whom? Not to me for sure. If they all left and served the 'good' causes they spout, would be best for all of us. The lib dems had the good luck to strike a bargain well above their weight but now could not win a raffle. what a crazy country.

Nic Doczi ● 4394d

What is also quite alarming about this is that, according to Vince Cable at least, the Lib Dems do not appear to have been consulted before this controversial project was set in motion.  Yet another example, it would appear, of Conservatives in coalition acting in bad faith and conducting themselves as though they are in office in their own right.Or burning their bridges for the future, as it is known in Hounslow.

Phil Andrews ● 4394d

Completely agree, every one is entitled to an opinion but not to play the 'racist card' which these days seems to scare people more than gun crime.calling someone racist should trigger a full investigation and if not warranted, carry  a severe penalty (like false rape). As for hurt feelings, everyone should toughen up. The law should act only when actual harm has been demonstrably done.

Nic Doczi ● 4394d

The Home Office campaign is aimed at people who are in this  country illegally and is not in any way racist. It simply asks people who are in this country illegally to return home or face arrest. That is in accordance with the law of the land and it is up to all of us  including solicitors, councillors, police, employers and others in authority to support this campaign.Evidently a solicitor who specialises in family law has reported the vans carrying the Home Office posters advising illegal immigrants to return home or face arrest as bring racist. Nothing could be further from the truth.These advertisements are simply public information announcements in English warning illegal immigrants of all races, nationalities and origins that they can face arrest if they are in this country illegally. That is simply a statement of the law of the land just like a No Parking sign. Every  other country in the world, including countries where illegal immigrants come from,  has similar laws.As a solicitor, the lady concerned should realise this, withdraw her complaint and thereby avoid making a fool out of herself and being charged with wasting police time.

David Giles ● 4395d

"at least they are taking the issue to heart,which is more than can be said of the last lot."No they're not - it's cheap politicking and if the government were serious about the real problems they'd be spending a lot of money on enforcement - not cutting the jobs of the people responsible.

Vanessa Smith ● 4395d

Say what you like,and this scheme seems a bit daft,at least they are taking the issue to heart,which is more than can be said of the last lot.

Keith Iddon ● 4395d

When even the ubiquitous Nigel Farage says this campaign is "nasty" then you really do have a problem. It's just political grandstanding and it is vile.

Vanessa Smith ● 4395d

http://www.hounslowchronicle.co.uk/west-london-news/local-hounslow-news/2013/07/26/racist-home-office-vans-reported-to-police-109642-33659639/It will be interesting to see how this complaint fares.  A trained solicitor is unlikely to be fobbed off very easily.

Phil Andrews ● 4395d

I sincerely hope people who don't really exist or who or not on the Electoral Roll have not been signed up as members of the Labour Party.Heaven knows, the Labour Party is having quite enough trouble with its real members.

David Giles ● 4395d

I wonder how many 'new' members are also 'landlords' with just six months behind them, all queuing up for 50% refurbishment deals and letting deals courtesy of LBH.

Anthony Waller ● 4396d

I am not even sure many new 'members' of the Labour Party have even heard of him!

Chris Broadbent ● 4396d

I'm not sure you know how to spell 'Miliband'.

Anne England ● 4396d

I wonder how many illegal immigrants have been 'signed up' as members of the local labour constituency party? Or do you think the rumours are true that they just made up names? If the latter a rare example of some of them using their imagination!

Chris Broadbent ● 4396d

You know it's bad when even UKIP condemn it as bad taste and practice.

Anthony Waller ● 4396d

Legal immigrants have nothing to be frightened of.If immigrants read English, they will understand the message.If immigrants don't read English, then they won't understand the message.We need to encourage all immigrants to learn English. It is in their interests to do so.Many immigrants read  English -    particularly younger immigrants from the EU and the English speaking countries of the Commonwealth.

David Giles ● 4396d

I am not sure if Ed Milliband knows how to use a a toaster.

David Giles ● 4396d

Yes,Brown really was a buffoon,albeit an intellectual one.God help us if Miliband gets in,i wouldn't trust him to make my toast properly.

John Kerr ● 4396d

If I were an immigrant and could read english I would be frightened. If it was worded differently and said we will pay your relocation costs and give you some dosh to walk your merry way in your homeland, I wonder what the take up would be.

George Knox ● 4396d

During the years of Labour Government administration under Gordon Brown, the Home Office ordered immigration control at Heathrow Airport, on many occasions, to open the barriers and allow unchallenged entry into the UK by people from all over the world.. as they were embarrassed by the length of the queues!!One despairs at the cluelessness of the shower.

Jim Lawes ● 4396d

Hear Hear! Well said David.

John Kerr ● 4396d

The previous Labour Government tolerated illegal and uncontrolled immigration which has caused huge pressures on housing, schools, social services, our National Health Services, the police, the courts and many other public services. Many of them also work illegally depriving people who are legally entitled to work of the jobs they need and forcing them to rely on benefits at great cost to the taxpayers.There is nothing wrong with our democratically elected Government inviting illegal immigrants to leave. If they are illegal, they have no right to be here and now they are being given a fair choice - to leave voluntarily of their own account at minimal cost to the taxpayer or be deported at great cost to the taxpayer.

David Giles ● 4397d

Didn't some select committee say they have a 37 year long backlog of cases waiting for a decision whether or not people can stay here? If so, then what is the point of this daft idea?

Vanessa Smith ● 4398d

Agreed but it must be a sign of how desperate the authorities are and how out of control they feel the illegal immigrant situation is.If it is designed to put the wind up illegals, I would think they are laughing their socks off at it.

Keith Iddon ● 4399d

Crude, nasty, insulting and a waste of time and money. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

Vanessa Smith ● 4399d

I'm with the Brent Council leader on this - what utter bloody contempt for local authorities and for their efforts to promote good community relations in their boroughs.One also wonders who this is aimed at bearing in mind the message seems to be written only in English and most illegal immigrants will probably be relatively recent arrivals and thus may not read English as a first language if indeed at all.  More about playing to the gallery methinks.

Phil Andrews ● 4399d

I honestly thought this was a spoof BBC webpage until I read the Standard on the way home from work

Paul Fisher ● 4399d