Mock Election 2008

Home Secretary Gets Tough On Student Visa Abuse

Home Secretary Alan Johnson MP today outlined tough new restrictions designed to clamp down on student visa abuse.

A growing number of overseas students enter the United Kingdom every year, and there has been widespread concern that the system was being abused by would-be immigrants who are staying in the country long after their temporary visas have expired.

In an earlier attempt to address the problem, the Government last year announced that it was introducing a ’poins scoring’ system whereby overseas students would be scored on various aspects and would not be granted a visa unless they scored 40 points. This plan was criticised by political opponents as being cumbersome and failing to stop suspected terrorists from entering the United Kingdom.

Unveiling his new plans, the Home Secretary announced that students from outside of the EU would need to be able to speak English to a high level and that those students who wish to study short, non-degree, courses in this country would not be able to bring dependants with them. In the academic year 2008/9 approximately a quarter of a million student visas were issued but it is expected that the new measures, effective immediately, will see this figure drop significantly, possibly by tens of thousands.

Whilst cutting down on the abuse of student visas is a popular move across the political spectrum, it is a delicate balancing act for the Home Secretary. Students coming from overseas inject a large amount of money into the UK economy, several billion pounds a year, and the government does not want to lose the prestige of attracting some of the greatest young brains from across the world to British Universities.

It was also announced, by Immigration Minister Phil Woolas MP that over 200 ’bogus’ colleges had now been closed. This follows increasing reports that these ’colleges’ were set up as a front to allow people to enter the UK, for a suitable fee, on a student visa without having to do any studying at all.

Mr Woolas said: “The latest proposals are a response to the moves by people who are trying to get round the system.”The moves announced today by Mr Johnson and Mr Woolas should go some way to restoring Britain’s reputation as a centre for higher education excellence, whilst ensuring that we do not become a soft touch for those who wish to enter the country under false pretences.

All I need to say is that if we do start denying overseas student, the Secondary education job openings will drop dramatically based on the pure statistics of how much of the education system is currently funded by overseas students.

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Labour Minister To Step Down

A Labour minister has today announced that he plans to quit as a Member of Parliament and intends to run to become the first elected mayor in Birmingham.

Sion Simon MP has represented the constituency of Erdington, in the West Midlands, for nine years and is currently a junior minister in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

The practise of electing mayors is relatively new in the United Kingdom but the success of mayoral elections in London and Doncaster has seen the idea spread to other cities. Mr Simon says that he had been sceptical about the necessity for elected mayors but his mind was changed by the success of Ken Livingstone, and latterly Boris Johnson, in their tenures as Mayor of London.

Birmingham does not currently elect a mayor and a poll taken in 2001 showed that voters in the city were broadly against the concept. Mr Simon believes however that perceptions have changed and that an elected mayor in England’s second largest city can serve local needs better than MP’s in Westminster.

It is believed that Mr Simon will stand down at the forthcoming General Election and then stand for election to Birmingham City Council. If successful, as seems likely, he will use this as a platform to campaign for an elected mayor and will then hope to be successful as the Labour candidate for this position. Mr Simon held a 9000 majority at the last election and was seen as having one of the safest seats for the coming poll. It seems however that Mr Simon has decided that the increasing media pressure, and public scrutiny, being placed on Members of Parliament has had a detrimental effect on life at Westminster. Recent curbs on MP’s expenses have proved very unpopular and have led many politicians to question their role in public life.

Mr Simon, in common with many other MP’s of all parties, came in for severe criticism during the Commons expenses scandal and had to repay £20,000 that he had erroneously claimed for a rented second home, owned by his sister, in contravention of Parliamentary rules. With elected mayors bringing real prestige and power, as well as a lucrative salary in excess of those that a junior minister could expect, then Mr Simon could be the first of many to swap Westminster for home comforts!

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