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Immigrants to face `Britishness test'

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON SEPT. 3. Immigrants will now have to pass a "Britishness test'' to qualify for a British passport which currently can be had for the asking provided a person has lived in Britain for six years and has not committed any crime.

Under new proposals, designed to `integrate' immigrants more closely into British society, they would be required to demonstrate a working knowledge of English and a broad understanding of the culture, including the way some of its key institutions function.

The Government would arrange special language and citizenship classes for prospective citizens to prepare them for a compulsory test in English and history and culture of the United Kingdom.

The Home Secretary, David Blunkett, who launched the proposals today with a meeting with a group of immigrants in Wembley, west London, said he wanted the idea of British citizenship to become "something to celebrate''.

He emphasised that it was important for people to be able to communicate in the language of their neighbours and interact with other citizens.

This would `liberate' those who now felt trapped because of their inability to communicate with others, and also help counter racist propaganda. "This is not a passive citizenship, such as voting occasionally, but an active one where people make the world around them a better place by what they do and how they do it,'' Mr Blunkett said adding that he `fully' endorsed the view that an understanding of the basic history of the U.K. would strengthen people's commitment to a common culture.

He strongly denied that it would affect Britain's diversity and said, in a BBC interview, that it was `patronising' to suggest that immigrants may not be able to improve their English.

Bernard Crick, chairman of the United Kingdom Advisory Panel, which made these recommendations, said the main aim was to promote `integration' in a way that even as people felt `secure' in their own identities they also shared a "wider identity''.

The proposals, which would become part of Britain's Nationality and Immigration Act once they are approved, have evoked a mixed reaction from immigrants some of whom fear that the move might be used to "weed out'' people from non-English speaking countries.

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