Vince Cable: Illegal immigrant billboards create fear over what is not a big problem
VINCE CABLE has slammed his Tory colleagues over billboards telling illegal immigrants to "go home or face arrest".
Cable criticized the billboards, saying they was designed to create fear among the public, and stated that he did not expect the campaign to continue.
He said: "It was stupid and offensive. I think it is very unlikely it will continue."
The Business Secretary also denied that illegal immigrants were a big problem in Britain, and claimed that it was not easy to live in Britain illegally.
And Cable, who claims Liberal Democrat MPs were not consulted about Immigration Minister Mark Harper's decision to send out vans, said he doubted the billboards would be effective because of immigrants' limited English.
Speaking on BBC One's Andrew Marr show Cable said: "It is designed, apparently, to sort of create a sense of fear (in the) British population that we have a vast problem with illegal immigration.
"We have a problem but it's not a vast one. It's got to be dealt with in a measured way dealing with the underlying causes."
Cable added: "We are not a totalitarian state. We don't count every single person but actually it's quite difficult being an illegal immigrant in Britain.
"You can't work, certainly legally, you can't have access to benefits. So, the idea that there's some vast, hidden army of people, is almost certainly completely wrong."
Cable dismissed "misleading" targets to reduce net migration following criticism by the Public Administration Select Committee today.
He said: "The argument about those numbers, which was raised this morning by a select committee, it only really matters if you are pursuing some target. There's this sort of net immigration figure, which the Conservatives are very preoccupied by.
"It's not a government objective, make it absolutely clear.
"This idea that you are pursuing a net immigration figure is very misleading because, amongst other things, the largest number of people counted as immigrants are overseas students, who are not immigrants, they are visitors but under the United Nations classification they are regarded as immigrants, but they are good for the country.
"So obsessing about this net immigration number is not helpful."