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Jack Straw: Muslim women should learn English before they get a visa
The Blackburn MP told a conference on integration, he knew a family who had moved to the country in 1954 and the woman could still not speak a word of English.
Mr Straw said: “One of the things we should be looking at is the subject of Asian women speaking English and whether we need to engage them and require them to speak English before they are given a settlement visa.”
Mr Straw said he would be raising the issue with the Education Secretary Alan Johnson.
He also told the conference there was a huge cultural divide between Muslims and the rest of society. “One of the things we need to recognise is that there is a big cultural divide between Muslims and the rest of us, more than say with the Afro-Caribbean community.”
Mr Straw’s remarks came just days after Chancellor Gordon Brown called for immigrants to undertake community work before they were allowed to stay.
Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights, told the meeting Asian women who could not speak English were hampered in securing employment.
He said: “Really the problem is they don’t speak English so they can’t work. It’s also a problem for the children.
They are very diligent in supervising homework but they can’t help with the homework because they don’t speak English.”
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