BRITAIN IS likely to make a decision later this week as to whether it will impose visa restrictions for Jamaicans travelling to that country.
Officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade told The Gleaner yesterday that Phil Sinkinson, Acting British High Commissioner, made the disclosure during a meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, K.D. Knight.
Minister Knight yesterday updated Cabinet about the new developments at its weekly meeting.
"The matter was raised but it is still being discussed," Information Minister, Burchell Whiteman, told journalists at yesterday's post-Cabinet press briefing. He added that Minister Knight will have further discussions with Mr. Sinkinson on the matter.
The Gleaner also understands that Jamaica's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Maxine Roberts, is also having follow-up discussions with British officials to prevent the introduction of the proposed measure.
For months there have been rumours that Britain wanted to introduce visa requirements for Jamaicans, who they claim are behind many of the more serious crimes which take place in that country.
Yesterday, a story in the New Nation, the London-based black weekly paper, said the Home Office would impose the visa restrictions on visitors from the island.
Sources close to the Government say the controversial move will be announced early this month in a bid to counter the influx of drugs, firearms and known criminals into the country.
According to the report, the move to impose visas has split the black community.
Labour peer Lord Ouseley said: "It wouldn't surprise me. Special measures such as this have been long considered to deal with the movement of drugs, guns and criminals.
"I think both countries are looking at how to help each other tackle common problems. If they both think visas are helpful then it must be seen as such.
"I'm afraid it is all part of the inconvenience that ordinary people are increasingly asked to put up with in the name of security."
But the Government is certain to face opposition from its own benches, the report added.
When the Tories first suggested introducing visas for Jamaicans in the wake of the shooting of Radio One DJ Tim Westwood in July 1999, they were dismissed by the Home Office.
Labour MP Oona King said in the House of Commons: "Black British people with Jamaican relatives would be the first to suffer if the Tories had their way. This requires intelligence-led policing, not unintelligent racial stereotyping."
Last year, Health Minister, David Lammy, was one of several Labour MPs who wrote to the Home Office voicing concerns over rumours of visas for Jamaicans.
