I’ll block £3,000 visa bond on Nigeria, others — UK Dep Prime Minister

More prominent British leaders have
continued to speak out against the British
government’s plan to impose a
refundable £3000 visa bond on Nigerians.
The new UK plan is to make foreign
visitors from Nigeria, Ghana, India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka
routinely pay a security deposit to come
to the U.K., an idea that has spurred
outrage in countries such as India and
Nigeria.
Officials and business people in the
affected countries have condemned the
proposal, and the British government has
not said how many visa applicants will
have to pay the bond.
The UK government plans to begin a pilot
project in November involving “high-risk”
countries. Some visitors will have to pay
a £3,000 ($4,800) deposit, which will be
refunded upon departure but forfeited if
travelers overstay their visas.
But yesterday, Britain’s deputy prime
minister ,said he will try to block any
such move to pay the visa bond.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said his
Liberal Democrat Party and its
Conservative coalition partners had
“differences of emphasis” on the plan,
and details were still being discussed in
government.
“I am absolutely not interested in a bond
which becomes an indiscriminate way of
clobbering people who want to come to
this country,” Clegg told the BBC.
He said the bonds “are certainly not going
to go ahead” on that basis.
“Of course in a coalition I can stop
things,” he added.
Immigration is a sensitive political issue
in Britain, especially with the
unemployment and austerity measures
brought on by the economic crisis.
Prime Minister David Cameron has
pledged to cut net immigration from
252,000 a year in 2010 to below 100,000
a year by 2015.
While that plays well with the
Conservatives’ right-of-centre supporters,
it has been trouble for the centrist, liberal
Lib Dems, who are holding their annual
conference in Glasgow, Scotland.
The party is sagging in opinion polls 18
months ahead of a national election, and
many members have expressed unease
about the compromises involved in
coalition government.
Earlier this month one of the best-known
Lib Dem lawmakers, Sarah Teather, said
she was quitting because she felt the
party no longer fought for social justice
and liberal values.
Clegg defended his party’s participation in
the coalition, saying it had made the
government fairer and more liberal.