Controversial Home Office vans telling illegal immigrants to 'go home' could be introduced across Britain
A controversial Home Office campaign that urged illegal immigrants to "go home" could be rolled out nationwide, according to the immigration minister.
During the pilot scheme in July, vans emblazoned with the warning "In the UK illegally? Go home or face arrest" were driven around the London boroughs of Hounslow, Barking & Dagenham, Ealing, Barnet, Brent and Redbridge.
Business secretary Vince Cable branded the mobile billboard campaign "stupid and offensive" and even Ukip leader Nigel Farrage described it as "horrid".
Despite the criticism, immigration minister Mark Harper has now raised the prospect of the campaign not only being resurrected - but rolled out around the UK.
He told BBC Question Time: “I don’t see any problem with saying to people who have no right to be in the United Kingdom they can’t be here anymore.
“If it’s successful we’ll look at rolling it out, if it’s not successful, we won’t."
The Advertising Standards Authority has already banned the ads for using misleading figures, but cleared the campaign of being offensive despite the opprobrium about the language it employed.