Migrant spouses who fail English test may have to leave UK

Migrants who fail language tests after two and a half years in the UK may be forced to leave, David Cameron has said, as he announced plans to encourage greater integration of Muslim women.

When asked whether a Muslim woman who had come to the UK on a spousal visa and had children without learning the language herself could be denied leave to remain, the prime minister said there would be no guarantee that those who did not improve their English could stay.

He outlined the plan in an interview with the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, claiming there were 38,000 Muslim women who could not speak English and 190,000 with limited skills in the language.

Cameron said not just Muslim women, but all those who entered the UK on the five-year spousal settlement programme would soon have to sit language tests halfway through that period.

“After two and half years they should be improving their English and we will be testing them,” the prime minister said. “We will bring this in in October and it will apply to people who have come in on a spousal visa recently and they will be tested.”

Cameron stressed that he was not blaming those who could not speak English because “some of these people have come from quite patriarchal societies and perhaps the menfolk haven’t wanted them to speak English”.

But when questioned about whether they would be asked to leave the country if they failed to start learning the language, he said that was possible as “people coming to our country have responsibilities too”.

“They can’t guarantee they will be able to stay, because under our rules you have to be able to speak a basic level of English to come into the country as a husband or wife. We made that change already, and we are now going to toughen that up, so halfway through the five-year spousal settlement there will be another opportunity to make sure your English is improving. You can’t guarantee you can stay if you are not improving your language.”

Muslim women to be taught English in £20m plan to beat 'backward attitudes'

Cameron defended his plan to launch a £20m language fund to help Muslim women unable to speak English. He had overseen cuts to funding for language lessons for immigrants.

Earlier, he called for an end to the “passive tolerance” of separate communities, which left many Muslim women facing discrimination and social isolation.

The prime minister said he would not avoid telling the “hard truths” required to confront the minority of Muslim men whose “backward attitudes” led them to exert “damaging control” over women in their families.

“All too often, because of what I would call ‘passive tolerance’, people subscribe to the flawed idea of separate development,” he wrote in the Times. “It is time to change our approach. We will never truly build One Nation unless we are more assertive about our liberal values, more clear about the expectations we place on those who come to live here and build our country together, and are more creative and generous in the work we do to break down barriers.”

The new English language scheme would try to reach the most isolated women, targeting specific communities based on the ongoing review into segregation being carried out by Louise Casey, the head of the government’s troubled families unit.

Classes would be held in homes, schools and community centres, with travel and childcare costs provided to encourage participation.

Cameron said all public services, including nurseries, schools, health visiting and job centres, needed to play a part in tackling “prejudice and bigotry” and building integration.

The announcement of £20m for English classes was welcomed by Shaista Gohir, chair of the Muslim Women’s Network, but she said “it should be directed at all communities, not just Muslims – and it shouldn’t be linked to radicalisation. People learning English is a good thing, so they know their rights and can participate in society. Cameron says he wants to empower Muslim women. But what about Muslim women who already speak English and still face barriers to participation?”

Muslim women, she said, were often marginalised by men in their own communities, in mosques and local politics. “Women with skills and abilities are often overlooked; very few women have broken barriers. That’s the real problem that’s not being tackled. We need to break up the Muslim old boys network that keeps us sidelined.”

Dr Ed Kessler, director of the Woolf Institute, which convened the recent Commission on Religion and Belief in Public Life, criticised Cameron’s focus on Muslim women.

“It is extremely unfortunate that the prime minister has chosen to focus solely on Muslim women to make an important point about the integration of immigrants,” he said.

“The commission explicitly called on the government to use sensitive and inclusive language when dealing with matters of faith, yet once again points that apply equally to immigrants from a wide variety of nationalities, backgrounds and religions – Iraqi Christians for example – have been used to associate all Muslims with difficulties associated with integration. As a result, rather than empowering women, the Muslim communities can be further alienated, making it harder rather than easier for Muslim women to seek help from public authorities.”

Sufia Alam, the women’s project manager of the east London Maryam centre, pointed out a wide discrepancy between Cameron’s suggestion that 22% of Muslim women have limited or no English, and the 2011 census, which said that just 6% struggled significantly with the language. There had been deep cuts in English teaching provision for non-native speakers in the last parliament, she added.

“My issue is that community facilities – especially those aimed at women – have faced significant cuts,” she said.

Siema Iqbal, a Manchester GP, said she agreed that people coming to live in the UK need to learn English in order to improve their opportunities and interaction with others. “But the problem is [Cameron] is conflating not being able to speak English with contributing to radicalisation,” she said. “A mother’s ability to moderate her children isn’t dependent on her speaking English. I know many Asian women who can’t speak English but still influence their children – and push them to integrate into British society.”

Cameron is also “confusing submissiveness with being respectful. There is quite a distinction,” Iqbal added. “He obviously hasn’t met your average Asian woman who can’t speak English – they are not meek.

“Meek women exist on every spectrum, not just among Muslim women. But when it comes to Muslim women, it’s seen as a negative. There may many sectors where women need to become more empowered, not just Muslim women.”

A spokesperson for the community organisation Muslim Engagement and Development (Mend) said: “Being able to speak English is vital to economic, social and political integration, but the prime minister is making wild allegations about misogyny in Muslim communities and conflating this with issues of integration. This is not helpful; we need positive interventions not misplaced, tendentious rhetoric.

“When has Cameron acted to address workplace discrimination and the exclusion of minorities from the political sphere? It has become all too common in recent years for the government to point the finger of blame on Muslims and tell them to do more. It’s time the government took a long hard long look at its failings on integration – economic, social and political – and started offering solutions.”

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