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| Europe |
| Australian immigration plan for U.K |
| 2005-04-10 |
| BRITAIN'S Conservative Party leader Michael Howard has launched his Australian-style immigration policy, which a former Tory minister has described as unworkable. With Australian Prime Minister John Howard's former adviser Lynton Crosby directing the Conservative campaign for the May 5 election, the Tories have adopted a tough stance on immigration and asylum similar to Canberra's. Michael Howard has accused Prime Minister Tony Blair of being soft on immigration and frightened to tackle the issue head on. "It's not racist to talk about immigration. It's not racist to criticise the system," Mr Howard told a Conservatives rally in Telford in England's midlands today. "It's not racist to want to limit the numbers. It's just plain common sense." Howard said a Conservative government would introduce an annual limit on migration, a border control police force and 24-hour security at ports. "We would also introduce an Australian-style points system for work permits to attract the people with the skills to contribute to Britain," he said. Mr Blair last year raised the prospect of also adopting Australia's points system, but still insists on no upper limit to immigration. "Well, Mr Blair, I've got news for you. A points system without a limit is quite literally pointless," Mr Howard said. But former Tory immigration minister Charles Wardle has slammed his old party's policy. "Mr Howard's policies are, at least some of the main ones, patently unworkable," Mr Wardle told journalists. Mr Wardle said Mr Crosby was one immigrant who should be subjected to his own policies and sent back to Australia. "I am not aware of anyone who has called him racist," Mr Wardle said. "This is just his attempt to try to stir the issue rather than deal with it. "Instead of hiring an Australian spin doctor to tell him what to say, Howard should hire some serious people who could actually work up a serious policy. "Mr Crosby is one arrival who should be sent back to where he belongs." Wardle served under Michael Howard when he was Home Secretary in the John Major government, but left the Conservative Party in 2001. He believes the party's immigration policies were likely to make immigration and asylum problems worse rather than better. "It almost defies belief that Mr Howard is standing before people and presenting this as a policy proposal," he said. "It is the most half-baked, incoherent package imaginable. It shows he is utterly unsuited for the position of Prime Minister." Immigration was ranked in a survey last week as one of the top three issues worrying the UK electorate as it decides whether to give Blair a third term. It is one of the few areas of the campaign in which the Conservatives are ahead of Labour in the polls. |
| Posted by:God Save The World |
| #1 Article: Wardle served under Michael Howard when he was Home Secretary in the John Major government, but left the Conservative Party in 2001. From the sounds of it, the guy was a Labor mole in the Conservative Party. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-04-10 9:06:10 PM |