Friday , March 29 2024

Do Let’s Re-Elect the Forty-Five

On the 11th of February this year, a letter was sent to the Home Secretary by forty-five Conservative MPs calling for fast-tracked visas for Commonwealth citizens. The proposals, however, got no further than the single tabled debate.

These MPs, who I will list lower down, are truly allies of the CRCC and all Commonwealth Campaigns, possibly without knowing it. Many of them also agree with the goals of the Daily Globe. The letter they wrote was accurate, concise and to the point. Visas are a continual difficulty and continue to harm the UK’s foreign policy: The free trade deal with India, worth £2 billion in trade, is believed to be delayed primarily due to the UK’s current restrictive visa policy.

Brexit was not a protest about too many immigrants – but rather a matter of controlling immigration. For this reason, the proposal to relax Commonwealth visas is wise, especially for business travellers. While opening the excessively stringent visa regulations would be a goal of itself, it is a step in the right direction for many other goals, including:

  1. Recognising the Commonwealth as an asset. Britain’s imperial history with many of these countries is not the best. While we cannot rewrite the past, we can improve the present; pretending the negative aspects of the past did not happen and ignoring the Commonwealth is not a viable solution by any means.
  2. Recognising the Commonwealth is distinct from the World: Currently the UK’s allies appear to be separated into two groups: European and ‘Rest of World’ – our most effective allies are not included.
  3. Prioritising Commonwealth Immigration, and laying the groundwork for the Special Passport Area between the UK and the 15 other realms, and the great goal of CANZUK Free Movement.
  4. Beginning the process of a Commonwealth Work Visa to assist travelling businessmen and companies to grow trade and connectivity between the Commonwealth and grow the UK’s economy.

While I urge all to support their Conservative and Unionist candidate in this election, remembering that they are the party of the Union, the forty-five mentioned below deserve extra attention and support.  They are forward-looking visionaries and fellow campaigners. Let us be trenchant in our support of them: United we are Stronger.

Mr Nigel Adams

Mr John Baron

Sir Henry Bellingham

Sir Paul Beresford

Mr Jake Berry

Mr Bob Blackman

Mr Peter Bone

Sir Peter Bottomley

Mr Graham Brady

Mr Andrew Bridgen

Mr James Cleverly

Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown

Mr Robert Courts

Mr Philip Davies

Dr James Davies

Ms Nadine Dorries

Mr Charlie Elphicke

Mr Nigel Evans

Mr Michael Fabricant

Mr Chris Green

Mr Gordon Henderson

Mr Philip Hollobone

Mr Adam Holloway

Mr Gareth Johnson

Mr Jeremy Lefroy

Mr Jack Lopresti

Mr Tim Loughton

Mr David Mackintosh

Mr Scott Mann

Mr Jason McCartney

Mr Karl McCartney

Mr David Nuttall

Dr Matthew Offord

Dr Daniel Poulter

Mr Andrew Rosindell

Mr Paul Scully

Mr Alec Shelbrooke

Mr John Stevenson

Mr Julian Sturdy

Mr Derek Thomas

Mr Michael Tomlinson

Mr Shailesh Vara

Mr Charles Walker

Mr David Warburton

Mr Mike Wood

 

Image and list of MPs from the Telegraph website: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/11/commonwealth-citizens-should-have-uk-visas-fast-tracked-brexit/

About Ted Yarbrough

Ted is the co-founder and editor of the Daily Globe. He is a long-time blogger on British politics and has written a thesis on Thatcherism.

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