Home Office to be more consultative ahead of future campaigns following legal threat over 'Go Home' vans
The Home Office has agreed to consult with local communities in future following the fall out over its ‘Go Home’ campaign aimed at illegal immigrants.
The campaign, which drew around 60 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority last week, was threatened with court action by clients of the Refugee and Migrant Forum of East London.
The vans drove through London calling on illegal immigrants to ‘go home or face arrest’ alongside a hotline number to text and led to business secretary Vince Cable accusing the Home Office of creating ‘a climate of fear’.
As a result of the complaint, which according to the Guardian alleged that the campaign failed to uphold the government’s duty on equality, the Home Office has now retreated from its future use.
"Due to the inflammatory nature of the campaign, as voiced by several prominent public figures, including Vince Cable MP and the leaders of Brent and Redbridge councils, the due regard duty was high, and a consultation should have been carried out before the pilot began so that the government could have properly considered the effect of the campaign before deciding whether to go ahead,” the law firm Deighton Pierce Glynn, acting on behalf of the claimants told The Guardian.
The Home Office has yet to issue a response.