“Go Home or Face Arrest” Campaign Debate

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Department: Home Office

“Go Home or Face Arrest” Campaign

Mike Weir Excerpts
Wednesday 9th October 2013

(11 years, 1 month ago)

Westminster Hall
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Pete Wishart Portrait Pete Wishart
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I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman. I must have missed his parliamentary question, which is remiss of me, because I usually look out for every one of his parliamentary utterances and questions. Of course, he is right. The £10,000 could have been better spent than on that absurd campaign with a hate van, trailing through the streets of London with a message saying, “Go home”.

Mike Weir Portrait Mr Mike Weir (Angus) (SNP)
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I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. Does he agree that the Minister can hardly take any comfort from the ASA’s statement that the Government were using misleading statements? They were basically saying things that were not true on a van being trailed through areas of mixed ethnicity, which was bound to cause trouble.

Pete Wishart Portrait Pete Wishart
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My hon. Friend is right. I cannot remember any campaign that has effectively been banned by the ASA. It is the first time in my 12 years in the House that I have seen anything like this misleading information. The Minister should be thoroughly embarrassed about what happened this morning, but instead we have seen the parody of him going through the news studios, defending these awful, appalling vans.