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Caron Lindsay Teather slams Home Office “Go Home” billboards as “straightforward intimidation” By Caron Lindsay | Mon 22nd July 2013 - 7:47 pm Follow @caronmlindsay Tweet The Evening Standard reports that the Home Office is planning on sending large billboards with “Go home or face arrest” on them around six London boroughs: The billboards will also display the number of illegal migrants arrested recently in the relevant part of the capital. Ministers say that the hardline message is intended to encourage visa overstayers or others here unlawfully to return voluntarily. A phone number offering help – including potential free flights and other travel assistance – will also be shown on the adverts along with the promise that those who come forward voluntarily will not be detained while they arrange their departure. The use of the advertising vans, which will be deployed initially to six London boroughs including Ealing, Barnet and Hounslow, forms the latest stage in a renewed Home Office drive against illegal migrants in recent months. Some critics are likely to see the move as evidence of an excessively hostile attitude to migrants. Sarah Teather, whose Brent constituency is one of the targets of this campaign has taken great exception to the plan: This is the latest in a string of Home Office announcements that are designed to make the Government look tough on immigration. But I fear that the only impact this deeply divisive form of politics will have will be to create tension and mistrust towards anyone who looks and sounds foreign. Instead of trying to grab cheap headlines, the Government would be much better advised to tackle the real issues that undermine confidence in the immigration system. Home Office statistics show that decision making by officials is extremely poor and leads to a quarter of initial decisions to refuse asylum being overturned on appeal. And many of those people who the Government are targeting with these policies are either those whose case has been mishandled by the Home Office, or who Ministers acknowledge cannot be sent home because they wouldn’t be safe. Vulnerable individuals who are fleeing persecution and violence are treated with disbelief and a complete lack of compassion in a rigid and inhumane system. But rather than tackling these problems head on, Ministers are choosing to once more crank up the anti-migrant rhetoric. These adverts are nothing less than straightforward intimidation and can only have bad consequences for communities like those I represent in Brent, where people from all faiths and races have mixed for decades. We will all be much poorer for it. It worries me that this sort of thing will just generate hatred towards people, including those who have every right to be in this country. It certainly has the potential to make everyone who has made their home in this country feel very uncomfortable. My instinctive reaction is to want to stand with the people who are or who will feel they are the target of these billboards. One person suggested on Twitter that she’s tempted to have a suitable reply printed on a t-shirt and to wear it round Brent. It got me thinking that this initiative actually deserves to be mocked into retreat. Sometimes the best way to deal with these deeply divisive things is to come up with some humorous, eye-catching riposte. Any ideas? * Caron Lindsay is Co-Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings Read more by Caron Lindsay or more about home office, immigration or sarah teather. This entry was posted in News. Bookmark the web address for this page or use the short url http://ldv.org.uk/35421 for Twitter and emails. « Previous Post Next Post » 39 Comments * Simon Titley 22nd Jul '13 - 8:50pm This really does reveal the Tories in their true colours. Will this decision be disowned by Nick Clegg or Jeremy Browne? I am reminded of a story about the late, great Clement Freud. He was canvassing in his constituency one day when he met a woman who told him, “I’ve half a mind to vote Tory.” “Madam,” he replied, “that’s all you need.” * Jennie 22nd Jul '13 - 9:53pm Sarah is spot on about this. Shame the rest of the parliamentary party are letting it happen. * CP 22nd Jul '13 - 11:41pm :O This is really bad. Its terrible. I don’t even have any funnies for this :( * Tim13 22nd Jul '13 - 11:46pm This is an absolute disgrace – such f*scist tactics are unworthy of any democratic government. Party Conference should consider sanctions on any elected Lib Dem who supports such bully boy nastiness. ALL Liberals without exception in the past would have totally condemned it. * Chris 22nd Jul '13 - 11:58pm I presume there’s some small print somewhere saying these billboards aren’t directed at everyone who looks a bit foreign? You lot really do have a lot to answer for. * Lee_Thacker 23rd Jul '13 - 12:11am I want the T-Shirt! * Lee_Thacker 23rd Jul '13 - 12:11am I want the T-Shirt! * David Allen 23rd Jul '13 - 12:20am Let’s round up anybody we suspect might be an illegal, and let’s make them all display a demeaning symbol, which shows all the rest of us who they are. The Nazis made their targets wear the Star of David, but we’ll find something else to mark out our targets. It’s only harmless fun, sort of. Next we smash up their buildings. Let’s call that Crystal Nite. And next…. * Alistair 23rd Jul '13 - 12:22am Its funny how when the Tories have aussie advisors like Crosby or Plattell they always play the immigration card, with no sense of irony whatsoever. It is a source of eternal shame that we facilitate this kind of thing. * Tony 23rd Jul '13 - 12:22am Stop using immigrants as scapegoats. The public are beginning to realise it as a ruse to draw attention away from failings in policy, especially economic policy. Enough! * Duncan Stott 23rd Jul '13 - 1:04am The Home Office posters encourage overstayers to send a text to begin their own deportation procedure. An interesting idea I spotted on Twitter earlier today was to organise a mass text to the number in protest at the campaign. * Joe Taylor 23rd Jul '13 - 1:14am It does deserve to be mocked into oblivion. Is there really a ‘text us to be deported’ service? That’s the daftest idea I’ve heard of since John Major’s ‘Cones Hotline’ – yes, the one that had people ringing up for an ice cream, or pretending to be a depressed traffic cone… * BrianD 23rd Jul '13 - 8:03am According to Guardian there is a new Ministerial group on Migrants Access to Benefits. David Laws is a member of that group alongside the Tory Immigration Minister Mark Harper. This is a disgraceful cabal and Laws shames our Party by his participation in it. * R Uduwerage-Perera 23rd Jul '13 - 8:45am As has already been mentioned this tactic is reminiscent of Nazi Germany, and personally I am disgusted that we as a Party are associated with such abuse. I joined this Party because it had a genuine history of doing the right thing with regard to equality and diversity, but since the birth of this Coalition a small percentage in our Party have actually colluded with the Right to further erode equality and human rights in this country, and to chase the votes of the bigots. Demonising people in the way that this latest tactic does, may well lead to further verbal and physical abuse of supposed ‘immigrants’, and this reality will be the responsibility of those people who implemented the programme, and those who are quietly sitting back and remaining silent even though they know that this is totally disgraceful. We could all well learn from the words of Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) In Germany they first came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me — and by that time no one was left to speak up. When will we put ‘liberalism’ back as the central tenet of the Liberal Democrat Party? * Suzanne Fletcher 23rd Jul '13 - 10:26am Words almost fail me at this outrageous, ill thought out, insulting, dangerous and even stupid act. Are the people that thought this up fit to live in our society one has to ask ? I would like to know exactly which politicians knew about this and condoned it, to say nothing of whose idea it was. As Sarah Teather rightly says, the Government should be addressing their failings in how badly they are managing the immigration system. where is the compassion, humanity and dignity in all of this ? At the risk of making this a long posting, and realising this is not just about asylum seekers, I have pasted below what Liberal Democrats for Seekers of Sanctuary stand for. WE BELIEVE in standing up for those who seek sanctuary in our country. Asylum seekers should be treated with compassion, humanity and dignity. WE ARE CONCERNED ABOUT the way that the present system is working with unfair deportations & removals; dawn raids; detention centre atrocities; returns to unsafe countries; unlimited detention; insecure asylum housing, and lack of support for failed asylum seekers who cannot return to their own countries. WE AIM TO co-ordinate work already being done, share ideas and experiences; be a point of reference for decision makers; and work to formulate new policy. OUR VALUES are embedded in the preamble to the Liberal Democrat Constitution. Our policies, and how they are carried out need to reflect this. * tpfkar 23rd Jul '13 - 12:43pm Totally agree with the comments here; this is appalling, and we should distance ourselves from this – and try to stop it if there is any way. 2 key campaigning points: 1) This is all part of turning sections of society against each other – we’ve seen it on benefits and we should be loudly saying that this isn’t how Lib Dems work, we seek to bring communities together not divide them. 2) The real news on immigration is the further worsening of determination figures. We should be firmly focussed on getting the backlog down, implementing the policies we have at the moment, rather than daft gimmicks playing to the crowd. Sarah Teather is fast becoming one of my favourite Lib Dem MPs and she’s shown real courage in standing up on the issues she has this year. I hope she is some way towards redemption in the eyes of many on here. * Tony Greaves 23rd Jul '13 - 3:58pm Why has no-one in this government, let alone Laws or Clegg, replied here to explain why they have allowed this despicable and very harmful Tory publicity stunt?? Pehaps Mr. Laws can tell us whether it was discussed or approved or even set up by this committee he is a member of? Tony Greaves * Suzanne Fletcher 23rd Jul '13 - 4:58pm As Tony Greaves says – I do think answers need to be given to these questions. * Eddie Sammon 23rd Jul '13 - 5:05pm I don’t see what’s so bad about this. Nobody legal has anything to worry about or should feel targeted in any way. It’s a disgrace that the “liberal” hate mob is out again, trying to bash anyone trying to tackle illegal immigration with the bigot stick. R Uduwerage-Perera demonstrates this with his quote: “…since the birth of this Coalition a small percentage in our Party have actually colluded with the Right to further erode equality and human rights in this country, and to chase the votes of the bigots.”. * Eddie Sammon 23rd Jul '13 - 5:08pm 18 comments on the trot jumping to condemn, a level of ideological conformity unhealthy for any party, backed up with the hate speech to frighten others from speaking out to support it. I don’t love these bill-boards, but I’m pretty indifferent given I want the government to tackle illegal immigration. * Eddie Sammon 23rd Jul '13 - 5:16pm Many of you are also intolerant to opposing views, the famed hypocritical liberal bigotry, yet you call others bigots. “Bigotry: intolerance towards those who hold different opinions from oneself” * Caron Lindsay Caron Lindsay 23rd Jul '13 - 6:31pm @DuncanStott: that mass text of the number sounds like a great idea. Where did you hear it? @eddiesammon: Imagine you are married to a British citizen. You are here perfectly legally. Then these vans start coming round your area saying that there are loads of illegal immigrants there. The local EDL starts to think its area is being (in its own terms) overrun with immigrants. They decide to challenge anyone who looks or sounds a little bit foreign. That’s the way to total breakdown in community relations. It is a lot harder to get into this country than the Daily Mail would have you believe. If people are here illegally, it’s likely that at some point the Home Office has mucked up their case in some way. I wish I could get over to you how horrendously and inhumanely we treat these people. The immigration system is probably our biggest shame as a nation. I’ve seen breastfeeding babies separated from their mothers who have been made to go to the other side of the world so that they can apply to come back (against Home Office policy), I’ve seen mothers threatened with being deported without their babies, I’ve seen people who are obviously abuse victims being denied asylum and being afforded no respect or dignity. And now the government does something that might see them and others hunted down on the streets. * Mark Valladares Mark Valladares 23rd Jul '13 - 6:31pm Eddie, You are, I suspect, quite lucky, in that you aren’t a target of such a campaign. Brent is where I grew up and my parents still live there. The campaign appears to be targeted on areas where there are large BAME communities – Brent North, my old patch is predominantly South Asian these days – and sends out a barely subliminal message that is unhelpful to say the least. Indeed, I tend to agree with Chris on this, not something I often do. And, given that we went into the last General Election with a policy of earned amnesty for illegal migrants, a policy I believed to be pragmatic and liberal at the same time, it might be fair to say that whilst the majority aren’t always right, they do, I suspect, reflect the opinion of the community, in this case LDV readers. * Eddie Sammon 23rd Jul '13 - 7:24pm Caron, Mark, I agree that Lib Dems need to fight negative attitudes towards immigrants, I just get worried about the opposite “bury your head in the sand and call anyone who tries to tackle immigration a bigot” approach, just like what happened to Gillian Duffy. * Stephen Donnelly 23rd Jul '13 - 7:37pm Our claim to be a restraining influence has really taking a beating over the last couple of weeks, this is on a par with Jeremy Hunt’s outrageous claims about ’13000 excess deaths’. * Alistair 23rd Jul '13 - 7:41pm @Eddie – you only have to speak another language in public in this country to get strange looks from people. Xenophobes get plenty of encouragement from the Daily Mail, the EDL and the BNP as it is, they dont need tax funded billboards to spur them on further. In any case, its a stupid idea. What next, billboards in the City encouraging those who manipulate Libor to turn themselves in? Maybe a billboard outside Westminster to tell MPs that expenses cheats will be jailed. Its a publicity stunt and a particularly dumb one at that. * Anon MP's Caseworker 23rd Jul '13 - 8:42pm After the Oldham riots in 2001 Simon Hughes said: “we must be very careful with our language and that’s why some of us have been very critical of some of the language particularly William Hague and his colleagues have used over the last two years and it doesn’t help”. “It may not have a direct effect but it doesn’t help and in some cases it may well encourage people to think they can get away with intolerant language and intolerant attitudes and sometimes intolerant behaviour.” * Eddie Sammon 23rd Jul '13 - 9:00pm I have just seen a photograph of one of the vans and it confirms my suspicion that the level of outrage over this is unfair. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-23419848 The most prominent words on the van are actually “In the UK illegally?”, not “go home or face arrest”. The Evening Standard have been deliberately misleading to provoke outrage. The Evening Standard article doesn’t even mention that the vans have on it “In the UK illegally?”, never mind as the most prominent text. * Hywel 23rd Jul '13 - 9:34pm An Open letter to Nick, Jeremy and Tim Farron which I’m seeking signatures for so any further welcome Open letter on the “Go Home or Face Arrest” billboard campaign Dear Nick, Jeremy and Tim We write as Liberal Democrat members to express our absolute disgust at the current Home Office billboards which are “touring” parts of North London carrying the message, “Go Home or face arrest”. We believe that this is an ill thought out, insulting, and even stupid act. Like Sarah Teather we believe these billboards amount to nothing more than straightforward intimidation. Like the director of Migrant Rights Network we believe this campaign will damage community relations, and increasing mistrust and suspicion of minority ethnic groups in the areas being targeted. Demonising people in this way, may well lead to further verbal and physical abuse of supposed ‘immigrants’, and this reality will be the responsibility of those people who implemented the programme. They represent a crude bit of dog whistle politics, tactics which no person standing up for liberal values should engage in. Nothing the Coalition Agreement the party signed up to suggests support for such a divisive tactic. If Liberal Democrat ministers cannot stop the promotion of such divisive campaigns then we question what use they are serving either the party or the cause of liberal values. We call on the leadership of the party, and Lib Dem ministers with Home Office responsibility to make a clear and unequivocal statement repudiating this campaign and announcing what steps that are taking to terminate it within 72 hours of the publication of this letter. Hywel Morgan, Calderdale, Author of the party’s guide on “Beating the BNP” Stephen Clarke, Tower Hamlets Executive Member Caron Lindsay Angharad Bethan Jones Rhondda Cynon Taff Welsh Liberal Democrats * * Janet King 23rd Jul '13 - 9:49pm Any Government would want to avoid detention for immigration purposes, which costs £43,000 pp per annum and causes real human misery. The UK’s DFT (Detained Fast Track) system actually uses detention as a first resort (against UNHCR detention guidelines ).Furthermore we have a system of indefinite detention so, unlike criminals, innocent refused immigrants can be detained with no time limit. Presumably the Home Office believes that the warning notices on its vans will motivate some refused asylum seekers, overstayers and possibly trafficked immigrants to come forward and accept voluntary return without detention, for which Sweden is widely praised. If we had a just and humane immigration system that could work. However our system is neither and needs to be thoroughly overhauled and frightening whole communities is not the way to do it.I still support an amnesty for settled but `illegal’ immigrants and I look forward to debating this at Spring Conference 2014. Final thought – presumably the van billboards will all be in English so thankfully quite a lot of immigrants will not be too upset by them! * David Allen 23rd Jul '13 - 10:05pm Eddie, “Go home or face arrest” appears in large capital letters on the poster, doesn’t it? Yes, it does also say “In the UK illegally?” in marginally larger lettering. What difference does that make? It also says “Text HOME to (number)”. Now, who do you suppose is going to actually do that? If it told burglars to “Text LOCK ME UP”, do you think it would get any takers? No illegal immigrant is going to send that text. Of course not. It’s just a deliberate wind-up, courtesy of government. But plenty of other people will send the text. If we’re lucky, they’ll just be practical jokers. If we’re less lucky, they’ll be neighbours with grudges, racists, far-right activists, and troublemakers. They’ll all use the opportunity to make trouble for other people they don’t like. Meanwhile, right-wing hooligans will be cheering whenever they see the vans, chasing around after them, and laughing at anybody who doesn’t like it. Do you really think these vans are a good idea? * Eddie Sammon 23rd Jul '13 - 10:50pm David I never said the vans were a good idea, I don’t have much of an opinion on them because I think they are clearly targeted at illegal immigrants, rather than all immigrants and descendants of immigrants. Disagree for sure, but I just wanted to say that I think the level of outrage, including comparing the government to Nazi Germany and calling people who want action on illegal immigration bigots, is unfair. I might even disagree with the vans, I don’t know, I just know I don’t agree with the level of outrage and the misleading Evening Standard article. * tim13 24th Jul '13 - 12:20am Oh Eddie – for goodness sake don’t be so naive! Extreme right wing regimes that re violent and cruel to people they don’t like don’t spring out of nowhere you know. All these kind of tactics act as a run-up to the really violent nasty stuff. Consider what Suzanne Fletcher says – we already have indefinite detention here. * R Uduwerage-Perera 24th Jul '13 - 7:44am Eddie, some of us live in the real world where we are acuttely aware of the fear that currently exists within some BME communities as a result of growing tensions. To believe that the entire immigration rhetoric is only about ‘illegal migrants’ is to be niave. There is as one would expect in an economic recession increased intolerance towards ANYONE who appears different. If the Party genuinely wishes to not only attract but retain BME members then it may well benefit by adopting a more evidenced based approach to what it supports and promotes, rather than making assumptions and generally chasing the Right Wing for votes. When it comes to racism, sexism, homophobia, and others forms of bigotry, even liberals would benefit from ‘drawing a line in the sand’ for otherwise they will be too late to make a difference. Bigotry is not only theoretical topic to be discussed amongst friends, or merely being called ‘nasty words’, but it very commonly involves not getting or losing a job, and equally commonly a boot in the stomach and a fist in the face, as I can vouch for. This is why I am intolerant of intolerance and may appear as not particularly “fair” or liberal on the subject. As for drawing parallels from history, this is actually rather useful, for it gives us a steer as to what may well happen next, and when it comes to the current rhetoric with regard to Immigration, and specifically Muslims, there is much that we could learn from history, I would suggest. * * nuclear cockroach 24th Jul '13 - 11:17am It’s a bloody disgrace, which would shame a BNP election poster. Theresa May should hang her head in shame. As for the Lib Dems, they should demand this poster is withdrawn and never repeated. If not, they should leave government. They cannot allow themselves to be associated with such offensive crap. I’m glad I spent some time leafleting for ST during the 2010 GE campaign and will happily do the same in 2015. * Eddie Sammon 24th Jul '13 - 11:30am R Uduwerage-Perera, I’ve been attacked by both white and ethnic minority gangs, so I do live in the real world. I just don’t make a connection between race and crime. I can’t stand prejudice! I understand the notion that if you permit intolerance then there is more of it, I just prefer to seek to understand and explain, rather than the hardline approach. * David Wilkinson 24th Jul '13 - 12:18pm I wonder if Nick will mention it in his weekly letter or will he run out of bottle. There are times when lines in the sand have to drawn. I have copied Hywel’s letter and sent it to Nick, I think I might not get a reply this time * Roland 24th Jul '13 - 12:38pm Having seen the picture of the van billboard in the BBC article Eddie posted and seen the context for the sound-bite quote , I think many are just sounding off without really thinking. From an advertisment point of view, the question that arises is what is the real intent of the campaign? I suggest from the copy the ad is intended to be scanned as: “In the UK illegally? … Text HOME to 78070″. Hence the real question is what is the purpose of the offending line, since it gives no rationale for a person to make a text. Whereas if it were to say words to the effect “Need help getting home” then I could see it having a purpose. Also is the assumption that illegal immigrants have unhindered access to functioning mobile phones. So whilst I agree with the intent of the campaign, I do disagree with the language and messages it is using. * Lester Holloway 24th Jul '13 - 3:22pm The Home Office’s “Go Home” poster is the kind of divisive stunt I would have expected if the BNP were in government. Touring the multicultural boroughs of Hounslow, Barking & Dagenham, Ealing, Barnet, and Brent today it was nothing more than a modern version of the infamous “No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs” B&B signs of the 1950′s on wheels. The choice of London boroughs displays the same kind of racial profiling that Home Secretary Theresa May says she wants the police to stop. Immigration officials are well known for their racial profiling at border control and they have conducted ‘sweeps’ outside tube stations like Brixton pulling over anyone they think looks like an illegal immigrant, ie. they are of colour. To say nothing of the prisoner-style treatment meted out to detainees of immigration detention centres or the violent conduct of security contractors when deporting people. Brent Central MP Sarah Teather recently blew the whistle on a ministerial working group on immigrants which was initially named the “Hostile Environment” group with a brief to make Britain as hostile as possible to immigrants.The “Go Home” poster looks like it as come from exactly this mindset. The leader of Brent council, Mohammed Butt, said that the government haven’t learnt the lessons of the 1950s and 60s but I believe they know exactly what they are doing. Theresa May and her ministers and officials know full well the impact of this billboard will be on multicultural communities in general rather than the odd illegal immigrant who might be passing by. It reads like a message to the whole community, an attempt to divide communities and harvest the racist vote from UKIP. People need to stop asking David Cameron if he has talked to No.10 spinner Lyndon Crosby about cigarette packaging and start asking if the pair have discussed this campaign which has all the hallmarks of the brash anti-immigrant stirring Crosby masterminded in Australia. It is an attempt to poison the 2015 election regardless of the consequences which may well be a green light to the Far Right to increase violent attacks just as anti-immigrant sentiment led to white youths beating up foreign-looking men on their sun-kissed beaches. The recent imposition of a £3,000 visa bond on visitors from Nigeria, Ghana, Bangladesh, Sri-Lanka, Pakistan and India is another example of racial profiling. Visa overstayers are just as likely to come from Australia or South Africa. All this measure will achieve is denying families in Britain the visits of relatives for weddings and funerals. Like the touring billboard, it will create resentment and a sense of unfairness within multicultural communities. And it will surely impact on British business as entrepreneurs in the fast-growing economies of Ghana, Nigeria and India think twice about investing in the UK. Combined with the arbitrary cap on foreign university students, which business secretary Vince Cable has warned will harm Britain’s interests, these policies are a huge break on the country’s faltering recovery. Instead of parading a”Go Home” message through London’s multicultural communities ministers need to ‘Go Study’ the economic and social benefits of fostering a welcoming and diverse nation and contrast this with the prospect of becoming an insular, culturally-impoverished struggling nation if they continue down the divisive Lyndon Crosby road. * Post a Comment Click here to cancel reply. Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site. If you are a member of the party, you can have the Lib Dem Logo appear next to your comments to show this. You must be registered for our forum and can then login on this public site with the same username and password. Your email is never published. 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