The British police have recorded the major speech on immigration and other issues delivered by home secretary Amber Rudd in Birmingham last October as a “hate incident”, embarrassing the Theresa May government.
Rudd’s speech at the Conservative Party conference announcing plans for new visa curbs on foreign professionals and students came in for much criticism.
The West Midlands police recorded it as a ‘hate incident’ after Oxford University academic Joshua Silver complained against it.
Since it is recorded as a “hate incident” and not a “hate crime”, it will remain in the records as per rules that state that such incidents needed to be recorded whether or not the complainant was a victim or whether there was any element of hate.
Silver told The Times: “I felt politicians have been using hate speech to turn Britons against foreigners, and I thought that is probably not lawful.”
The West Midlands police have reportedly written to the professor stating that the inquiry is concluded and the matter “has been recorded in line with the National Police Chiefs’ Council manual as a non-crime hate incident.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “This was not a hate crime.”
{{/usCountry}}A Home Office spokesman said: “This was not a hate crime.”
{{/usCountry}}Rudd had told the conference: “I can announce...we will shortly be consulting on the next steps needed to control immigration. We will be looking across work and study routes. This will include examining whether we should tighten the test companies have to take before recruiting from abroad.”
“British businesses have driven the economic recovery in this country, with employment at record levels. However we still need to do more … so all British people get the opportunities they need to get on in life.”
“The test should ensure people coming here are filling gaps in the labour market, not taking jobs British people could do. But it’s become a tick box exercise, allowing some firms to get away with not training local people. We won’t win in the world if we don’t do more to upskill our own workforce.”
“It’s not fair on companies doing the right thing. So I want us to look again at whether our immigration system provides the right incentives for businesses to invest in British workers.”