Govt row over immigrant ads

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said a government pilot scheme to display billboards on vans telling illegal immigrants to go home are "ill judged".

She said: "There is now complete confusion over whether these ill judged ad vans are actually government policy or not.

"As we have made clear for some time, this is a cynical stunt from a Government that's not getting the basics right on immigration.

"We need a grown up debate about what's important and making immigration work for all. Instead we have ludicrous posters and a Home Office practising stupid politics, she added.

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Vince Cable has attacked Tory colleagues for launching a "stupid and offensive" advertising campaign targeting illegal immigrants.

The Business Secretary said Immigration Minister Mark Harper's decision to send vans bearing the message "go home, or you'll be picked up and deported" round London was designed to create fear among the public.

Mr Cable told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show the Liberal Democrats had not been consulted about the van campaign. "It was stupid and offensive. I think it is very unlikely it will continue."

He questioned whether illegal immigrants would have enough of a "sophisticated grasp of English" to be able to read the posters on the vans at a distance.

Read: Government row over immigration posters

An advertising campaign targeting illegal immigrants has sparked a row within the coalition Government.

ITV News Political Correspondent Libby Wiener reports:

Read: Lib Dems extremely unhappy over 'distasteful' posters

Liberal Democrat president Tim Farron told ITV News it was "daft" to suggest that companies have a "social duty" to employ young British workers rather than better-qualified immigrants.

Earlier Conservative Business Minister Matthew Hancock said firms have a responsibility to ensure young people in the communities where they are based are given the opportunity to get a job and get on in life.

Mr Farron added: "If the Tories really believe that they wouldn't have employed the Australian Lynton Crosby to run their election campaign."

UKIP leader Nigel Farage has criticised the "nasty" immigration posters introduced by the government.

Speaking to Daybreak Mr Farage said: "I think the tone of the billboards really is big brother, nasty, unpleasant - it'll make no difference"

Mr Farage suggested the scheme was merely a political move to drive support away from UKIP by showing that the Conservatives were actively dealing with the issue.

The UKIP leader said the only way to control immigration was to enforce the UK's borders properly.

An advertising campaign targeting illegal immigrants has sparked a row within the coalition Government.

Vans displaying the message, "Go home or face arrest", have been driven around areas including Barking and Dagenham, Redbridge and Hounslow since Monday as part of the new scheme.

Immigration Minister Mark Harper said the scheme represented "much better value for the taxpayer" and was only targeting people who were in the country illegally.

However the Liberal Democrats are said to be unhappy over the posters and are calling for the posters to be withdrawn.

The President of the Liberal Democrats Tim Farron said the posters symbolised the "politics of division" and called on the billboards to be "shredded" immediately.

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