United Kingdom Business Secretary, Vince Cable, has urged his Home Security Office to scrap plans to make certain overseas visitors to Britain pay a £3,000 bond to obtain tourist visas because it sends out the “wrong message” about the United Kingdom.
In his second attack of coalition immigration policy within 48 hours, the business secretary told the Financial Times that Number 10’s determination to press on with the visitor bond pilot in November was disappointing as he urged the prime minister to change course.
“It is very disappointing and it has not been agreed across the coalition and it seems to send the wrong message that Britain is closed for business,” Mr Cable said.
There was an international outcry in June when it emerged that the government was planning to ask some visitors from India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to pay a £3,000 cash bond in return for a visitor visa to allow them to stay in the UK for up to six months. The Home Office said the scheme would deter people from overstaying, but governments in Delhi and Abuja expressed “strong displeasure” about the plans.
“The operation for the visa scheme, together with the bonds on these Commonwealth countries is simply having the effect of driving bona fide visitors who want to spend and to do business in the UK to France and Germany,” Mr Cable added.
“The operation for the visa scheme, together with the bonds on these Commonwealth countries is simply having the effect of driving bona fide visitors who want to spend and to do business in the UK to France and Germany,” Mr Cable added.
This is the latest intervention from a restive Mr. Cable who on Sunday took aim at two government policies, warning that George’s Osborne’s mortgage guarantee scheme could stoke a housing bubble while also dubbing a mobile billboard campaign telling illegal immigrants to “go home or face arrest” as “stupid and offensive”.
His willingness to speak out is sparking some concern in senior Liberal Democrat circles, with one senior aide on Monday complaining that the business secretary seemed to be struggling to find any coalition policy he could defend.
Cable’s remarks are particularly embarrassing for Nick Clegg, the party leader, who originally proposed a visitor bond as a way of making his party appear tough on immigration.
However, the policy has proved deeply unpopular with many others in the parliamentary party. Cable added, “The Liberal Democrats agreed for a bond scheme as an additional route for people who have been turned down, it was never meant to apply to everyone.”
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