The night-walkers of Uganda

New citizens, good citizens
Level 1
Elementary
Key words
1
What do you think?
2
Which of these words would you expect to be in a text about citizenship and immigration?
Tick ( ) your choices.
national
violence
vote 
pay
report
judge
plane
community
points
democracy 
neighbour 
extremism
differences 
passport
workplace 
integration
Now read the text to see how well you did.
a
158

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Rules to make migrants integrate
Ministers say citizenship should depend on good 
behaviour, passing English tests and knowledge 
of the UK.
 
Patrick Wintour, political editor
and Alan Travis
June 5, 2007
Government ministers want to introduce a 
national British day as part of a ‘citizenship 
revolution’. They also want to toughen rules 
for migrants and to instil community pride in all
18-year-olds. 
They intend to give every teenager in the UK 
a citizenship pack when they are old enough 
to vote, and say that migrants should only 
be able to become British citizens if they can 
demonstrate good behaviour and a willingness
to integrate.
The national day would be a public holiday, 
similar to Australia Day in Australia. The 
proposals come from the communities secretary, 
Ruth Kelly, and the immigration minister, 
Liam Byrne. They would also like to introduce 
citizenship ceremonies for anyone who wants to 
come to live in the UK. 
Some of the ministers’ ideas are likely to feature 
in a new report. The prime minister-in-waiting, 
Gordon Brown, is very much in favour of some of 
the ideas. 
Another idea is to improve links between 
veterans and young people. The citizenship pack 
for 18-year-olds would provide information on 
democracy, volunteering and civic duties such 
as jury service. Young people could reduce their 
student loan repayments if they volunteer for 
community work. 
Mr Byrne and Ms Kelly say that the current 
settlement policy for new migrants is “difficult 
to understand and unclear”. In future, new 
citizens would gain points for the length of time 
they have spent in the country, for bringing new 
investment into the UK, for passing English tests, 
for demonstrating their knowledge of the UK, for 
doing civic work and for living in a law-abiding 
way. Points would be deducted for anti-social 
behaviour and for criminal behaviour. 
The ministers continued, “This form of points 
system would be the basis of a clearer 
relationship between the citizen and the state. An 
easy to understand contract such as this would 
encourage integration and demonstrate a clearer 
sense in which British citizenship is earned.” 
Local government should also provide a 
citizenship deal for newcomers, setting out their 
responsibilities to be good neighbours, as well 
as their access to English language training and 
employment, say the ministers. 
A ‘life in Britain – good neighbour contract’ 
would be provided to all migrants from inside 
and outside the EU, including those that stay 
temporarily. The contract would be introduced 
alongside identity cards. The ministers also agree 
that councils should spend less on translation 
services and more on English language teaching. 
The ministers warn that after 40 years of 
diversity, Britain’s communities are no longer 
looking outwards and celebrating what they 
have in common. Instead, they are beginning 
to look inwards, stressing their differences
and divisions. 
The threat to integration comes both from 
Islamist extremism and also groups like the 
British National Party. Mr Byrne said that, 
“We risk seeing a more divided society, more 
suspicious of each other and no longer coming 
together around shared goals. We need a 
stronger sense of why we live in a common place 
and have a shared future.” Mr Byrne admitted 
that the large number of eastern European 
migrants had proved a “shock to the system”. 
He said new migrants needed to do more to 
“help them understand British values and its way 
of life.” He added: “We need to make it clearer 
that citizenship isn’t simply handed out, but is 
something which is earned.”