Government forced to make U-turn on new immigration rules

2.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 14th May 2008

The Government has been forced to make a u-turn on new immigration rules because of pressure from the Liberal Democrats.

The original rules would have banned people who made even an honest mistake in their applications from reapplying for a visa for up to 10 years. Even families and those who were under 18 when making the application would have been affected.

However, after the Liberal Democrats forced a debate on the issue, Immigration Minister Liam Byrne conceded that the automatic penalty would be waived in the case of families and those under 18 when the error was made.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said:

"These changes were rushed through in haste and repented at leisure.

"The absurd rules would have meant penalties for children who had been kidnapped by child traffickers, and would have ignored family circumstances by depriving children of a parent.

"The minister has promised to reintroduce some aspects of discretion in key areas where automatic penalties would have been ridiculous."