By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS
London : As British Home Office Minister Liam Byrne tours India consulting over immigration, a senior minister back in London has unfurled plans to tell immigrants how to behave the “the normal way”.
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said the government will issue immigration packs which would help newly arrived immigrants in Britain to integrate in their home – with a stress on shared values and respect for the law.
“As a government we have a role in ensuring that the diversity which is a real strength of this country is successfully managed and doesn’t lead to problems in the way that people live and get along together,” Blears said.
“The time is right to look again at what we need to do to freshen our approach to integration and cohesion. That means being honest about the challenges we face and being prepared to meet those challenges head on with a renewed energy and impetus,” she added.
Blears, a one-time left-winger who then became home office minister under former premier Tony Blair, said the information packs would warn immigrants not to spit in public or litter the streets.
It may also include advice on putting out rubbish bins, not touching people without their permission and queuing up, which is often considered to be a quintessentially British social obsession.
“It is only right that we expect migrants to play by our rules. In return we have a role in explaining just what those rules are,” the minister said.
Local authorities are expected to design the packs keeping in mind the need to help newcomers avoid “behaving in a way that is out of step with the normal way of doing things”.
Blears chose one of Britain’s largest Asian settlements – the west London suburb of Southall – to launch the ‘community cohesion and integration campaign’ Monday.
The scheme is based on 57 proposals put forward in a report by the Commission on Integration and Cohesion, chaired by Dara Singh, the chief executive of Ealing Council, also in West London.
Within the Labour Party, Blears has annoyed many left-wingers by voting in favour of measures such as the introduction of identity cards, increased fees for university students and the Iraq war.
Her announcement comes in the midst of a raging debate in Britain over immigrants and what are termed ‘British values’.
Although these values remain controversially undefined, some commentators have sought to contrast them with minority Asian practices such as honour killings and forced marriage.