Migrants to UK may face English tests

Spouses hoping to migrate to the UK could face English tests under proposals being considered by a commission advising the government that identifies the inability to speak the language, the single biggest barrier to social integration in the country.

Spouses hoping to migrate to the UK could face English tests under proposals being considered by a commission advising the government that identifies the inability to speak the language, the single biggest barrier to social integration in the country.

The proposal is one of the most controversial features of an interim report being published by the Commission on Integration and Social Cohesion, which was set up last year in the wake of July 7 bombings.

The report identifies the inability to speak English as the single biggest barrier preventing migrants from integrating successfully in Britain. And it suggests that translation services for migrants could be scaled back in order to prevent newcomers relying on them as a “crutch” — which means they never learn English.

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Commission chairman Darra Singh, who will present his final conclusions to Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly in June, warned that if immigrants fail to pick up the language soon after their arrival, they might never do so.

Research carried out by the consulting firm Mori found that 60 per cent of those surveyed agreed that the barrier to “being English” was being unable to speak the language.