THE IMPOSITION of visa restrictions on Jamaicans by the United Kingdom Government is unlikely to achieve its purpose of stemming illegal immigration, said British Member of Parliament (MP) Diane Abbott.
She told yesterday's meeting of the Rotary Club of St. Andrew that the new restrictions would instead only prove an unnecessary hindrance to legitimate travellers.
"It is my view that the imposition of the visa requirements won't do what the Government thinks it will do," Ms. Abbott said. "It won't help in relation to crime; it will prove only as an unnecessary difficulty to Ja-maicans visiting their relatives and (to other) businesspersons."
She said, too, that recent reports in the press about Jamaicans suggested some bias and blamed increasingly negative press reports on the hasty implementation. But this, she said, did not mar the fact that the majority of Jamaicans were contributing positively to Britain's economy and the criminals were only a concentrated minority.
Ms. Abbott said that the visa requirements may have had a lot to do with the negative press coverage of the island here and abroad, even though a delegation including herself Britain's first black female MP and others fought long and hard against it.
"We went to see ministers, lobbied argued, campaigned, but unfortunately I think just after Christmas there were some unfortunate incidents in relation to crime which led the Government to impose these restrictions," she said. "I think it's very regrettable and unnecessary and there's no doubt in my mind that the (visa) introduction came about as the result of very poor press publicity as it relates to drugs and crime and so on. It's something that the Government had been threatening for at least a year."
The British Home Office declared early last month that Jamaicans would require visas to enter the United Kingdom (UK), a move seen as necessary to ease the pressure placed on its immigration system by Jamaicans residing there illegally.
That country has also been battling with increasing numbers of Jamaican drug traffickers flocking to the country and persons linked to 'Yardie' gangs said to be major contributors to that country's increasing crime level.
Ms. Abbott said, however, that though most of the press coverage seemed to be negative, there were hordes of Jamaicans excelling in the UK.
"I know that, particularly for those that don't travel to the UK, much of the news you hear about people of Jamaican origin in the UK can seem very negative," she said. "And if you read the newspapers alone, it seems that Jamaicans in the UK aren't living up to the standards of the island, but despite the news there are Jamaicans rising in every profession in Britain, whether its top barristers, whether its businessmen, in the council, voluntary sector. Persons of Jamaican origin have made and continue to make very important contributions to British business and public life."
Ms. Abbott is one of only three persons of Caribbean origin in the British Parliament and one of two black women. Her parents moved to England in 1951 from Jamaica. As an MP, she is spokesperson for minority rights and in her first speech, she criticised Britain's immigration policy as racist.
