On the Today program on Radio 4 this morning that nice Mr Woolas was talking about the Labour Party's latest bit of tinkering with immigration system, a new 'points based' citizenship test.* Responding to a question about the controversial suggestion that it would count against prospective citizenship candidates if they demonstrated against British troops as happened recently in Luton, he let slip that whilst the right to freedom of speech is protected by the law, this only applies to UK citizens.
He then went on to admit that effectively non-UK citizens have no right to demonstrate in this country, and if you do and you are planning on applying for citizenship then you can forget it. Interestingly he is also, despite claiming that none of this was based on party political or election positioning, trying yet again to steal some of the BNP's moral low-ground. He suggested that the new system should also have regard to the impact that UK migration policy has on the developing world by posing questions like "Are we causing a brain-drain in Western Africa?", echoing the BNP's new line on not 'profiting from the theft of skilled workers from the developing world'.
* Why there will not be a 'points based' test.
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