Search the Internet          Tips

Vaz attacks Blunkett's views on immigrants' language

The row over British Home Secretary David Blunkett's call for immigrants to speak English at home has intensified with Keith Vaz, former minister to Europe, branding it the silliest remark by a home secretary.

In a strongly worded statement, Vaz said Blunkett was making Asian immigrants a "cheap target" and would 'regret' his remarks. "If this was a Conservative home secretary, he would have been asked to apologise by now," Vaz said. "The immigrant community has become a cheap target."

Paramjit Dhanda, Labour Member of Parliament for Gloucester, however, defended Blunkett and said that requiring immigrants to speak English was "an obvious statement". He said it was the kind of issue that ordinary people talked about, and politicians should not be afraid to address it.

Blunkett had said in an article, in a forthcoming book titled Reclaiming Britishness, that young immigrants should speak English at home to prevent "schizophrenic rifts" between generations.

Vaz challenged Blunkett to spend a night with an Asian family in his Leicester East constituency to hear for himself how they have mastered the language of their adopted country.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman said, "Blunkett is simply pointing out advantages to children if English is spoken at home as well as their mother tongue. The prime minister agrees it is an advantage for the children to grow up in a home which is bilingual."

The home secretary's comments have caused an uproar among minority campaigners, who complained that they were provocative and an intrusion into their private lives.

Blunkett's spokesman clarified that he was interested in promoting integration by encouraging all immigrants to become bilingual, and was not seeking to prescribe what people should do at home.

But Vaz said, "What David is saying has no basis in reality. In many cases they [the Asian families] speak English better than Blunkett himself."

Beverley Bernard, the acting chairwoman of the Commission for Racial Equality, said, "The commission has always supported the view that proficiency in English is a springboard for future independence. This is as true for ethnic minorities as it is for white working-class people."

But, she said, the suggestion as to what language people might have to speak in their privacy is not acceptable. She said it was much more important to respect what defines the different communities and makes Britain a diverse society.

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report