Newly elected Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire Dame Andrea Jenkyns has called for benefits forms to be "only in English", following a special GB News investigation.GB News presenter Ben Leo visited the city of Leicester, which houses the street with the "fewest English speakers in Britain".FULL STORY HERE.
00:00Andrea Jenkins, the mayor of Greater Lincolnshire. Dame Andrea, nice to see you. Thank you for being with me tonight. What did you make of that? Was it alarming for you?
00:08Was it really in Britain, Ben? Gosh. Look, I'm quite old fashioned. I think when in Rome, you know, do as the Romans do. And if I was going to another country, I think you'd only be right that I learned the lingo.
00:20Now, I think what I'd ensure I push for, that no translators come to Britain, learn the lingo, and any DWP forms should always be in English. That's what I think. That'd sort it out, wouldn't it?
00:33So what would, would reform take that on as a policy then? Are you suggesting reform as a government should, would do that kind of thing?
00:40Look, this is, you know me, Ben, I shoot from the hip. This is what I do.
00:45Not the views of my employer.
00:46Well, you'd have to speak, you'd have to speak to the rest of the team. We're just working on policies, but I can certainly put it forward.
00:53But look, I'm all for people coming to Britain if they're going to work hard, contribute to society, set up businesses.
01:00But you've got to learn the lingo. I wouldn't dream of going somewhere.
01:04I mean, even when I go on holiday, I always get a phrase book that we even did in the 80s when we went abroad, my parents and I,
01:10and try and learn as much as we can of the local language.
01:13And I think that's the right thing to do, don't you?
01:16But I do think, look, if people come into Britain and they want to work, you must learn English.
01:22Yeah. OK. Have you got streets like that in your area in Greater Lincolnshire, do you think?
01:26And if you do or you think you do, what would you do about it?
01:30I think probably the nearest thing we come to that, I mean, it's not whole streets,
01:34is parts of Boston is, you know, quite Eastern European.
01:41But, you know, it's very different there because, you know, the setting of businesses,
01:47there's one street where the setting of businesses is, et cetera.
01:49But at the same time, I bumped into some residents who I represented back in 2013.
01:57I'm an elderly couple who said to me, they don't feel safe coming into the town anymore, Ben,
02:02because they don't hear English.
02:04And I think that's very sad, isn't it?
02:06Because I think, you know, especially the older generation of people with young children,
02:11when they feel that they are becoming a minority in an area,
02:15then in their own country, then it feels quite scary for some people, doesn't it, really?
02:19Yep. And Nigel Farage said that exact thing years ago.
02:23He said, you know, it's, what was the quote, unnerving to be on public transport
02:28or in a street somewhere and nobody speaks English.
02:30He got absolutely pilloried at the time for it.
02:33But it seems to be the overton window seems to be shifting slightly on that front.
02:36Yes, absolutely.
02:37Yeah. Sorry, go on.
02:39No, absolutely. As I said, if people want to come to Britain,
02:42so businesses and work hard and pay the taxes.
02:45But again, it's a benefit system.
02:48I don't want to see people come into this country claiming benefits.
02:51So I would do, the forms are just in English.
02:53That's what I would do.
02:54To be fair to that one guy I spoke to, he'd been here for 10 years.
02:56He said he worked, but he's just said he found it difficult to learn English.
02:59But yeah, there we go.
03:00Dame Andrea, thank you very much for your company.
Be the first to comment