| Blunkett
deeper in 'swamp' row
Home secretary accuses critics of oversensitivity to comments about asylum seekers as former Labour deputy calls for apology Alan Travis, home affairs
editor The home secretary, David Blunkett, yesterday dug himself even deeper into the row over his claim that some local schools were being "swamped" by the children of asylum seekers when he unrepentantly accused his critics of being ridiculous and oversensitive. But Mr Blunkett, who prides himself on being a "blunt-speaking Yorkshireman", found himself under attack even from the commission for racial equality and from the former Labour party deputy leader, Roy Hattersley. Gurbux Singh, the CRE chairman, said he hoped that Blunkett regretted his use of the term "swamping": "The use of language by all public figures is vitally important. We all need to be careful about the language that we actually use." "Political leaders need to provide leadership. There are certain words which are pretty emotive. The word 'swamped' is hugely emotive. I don't think the use of emotive language actually helps us develop a society where all of us have a sense of belonging," said Mr Singh. "To create the image, which I think is the danger, that the country is being swamped by asylum seekers and immigrants just leads to a false impression and it doesn't do justice to the debate." Lord Hattersley accused Mr Blunkett of trying to burnish his "tough" image and called on him to apologise for his mistake. But far from apologising, Mr Blunkett insisted he had used the term deliberately to explain why the children of 3,000 asylum seekers who are to be put up in new Home Office accommodation centres will be educated separately from local schoolchildren. He denied that his remarks in any way echoed the sentiment expressed in Margaret Thatcher's notorious claim in 1978 that Britain was being swamped by an alien culture. "I don't apologise. I didn't say that Britain was being swamped. I was talking about a school or a GP practice. The idea that a word becomes unusable even though the dictionary definition is straightforward because an ex-prime minister used it 24 years ago in an entirely different context and in an emotive way is ridiculous." Downing Street yesterday moved to provide political support to Mr Blunkett stressing that asylum had been discussed at the weekly meeting of the cabinet and that Tony Blair had told his colleagues that the success of the far right in the French elections would move the issue up the British domestic agenda. "People in this country are not against people coming in but they want to see a system that is fair," said the prime minister's official spokesman. The education secretary, Estelle Morris, also provided support by highlighting some of the pressures faced by schools with a high proportion of children of asylum seekers. But she refused to endorse the use of the "swamping" word. She told the BBC Today programme: "I suppose all of us in describing issues might choose different words to describe them. You will have to ask him as to why he chose that," she said. Under the plan in the new nationality, asylum and immigration bill the children of 3,000 asylum seekers living in four new accommodation centres will be educated on site instead of being sent to local state schools. Most of the new centres will be on former Ministry of Defence sites in rural areas. SocietyGuardian.co.uk © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002
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