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Minister drops proposal to "rebrand'' immigrants

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: The idea of "rebranding'' British nationals of foreign origin by adding their ethnicity in their passports has been abandoned even before it took off because of hostile reaction from ethnic minorities.

Home Office Minister Hazel Blears, who had floated the proposal saying that American-style double-barrel nationality was an "interesting'' idea, has now admitted that she might have got it wrong.

"I don't necessarily think that things that come from America translate into Britain because we're different,'' she told foreign correspondents three days after she enthusiastically talked about the American practice of emphasising the ethnic identity of their citizens.

Ms Blears denied that she had ever used the word "branding'' or "rebranding'' and said it was something coined by the media. In an interview with The Times earlier this week, she had said: "In America, they do seem to have this idea that you are Italian-American or Irish-American, and that's quite interesting... . I'm going to talk to people and find out how does that feel? It is about your identity, and I think it's really important.''

Her remarks provoked a strong reaction from immigrant groups who said this would create two "classes'' of British citizens with white native Britons described simply as "British'' and others as "Asian-British'', "Indian-British'' or "Pakistani-British''.

At a press conference on Friday, Ms Blears said there was no official move to tinker with the current practice.

Ms Blears, who is leading a consultation with immigrant communities on ways to achieve greater integration, said that there were a wide range of issues she wanted to explore.

These included education, role of mosques, policing and getting the cooperation of the Muslim community in tackling extremism.

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