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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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/