London, England - The government has abandoned its plans to introduce controversial "Britishness" tests for foreign-born religious ministers, it emerged yesterday.
The scheme was originally proposed to make sure that preachers entering the UK from abroad knew something of Britain's multicultural society, traditions and history before taking up a pastoral role. Fears over the number of radical, foreign imams preaching hateful sermons were raised by ministers, police and the security services before the July 7 attacks on London.
Yesterday, the immigration minister, Tony McNulty, said he had been swayed by the arguments of Muslim, Sikh and Hindu community leaders who said that preachers would face tougher requirements than other immigrants if they had to take the "Life in the UK" test two years sooner than everyone else.
"There was some concern throughout the consultation that ... somehow ministers of religion were being treated differently to everyone else because there was an expectation they would take the test after two years rather than the normal four years," he said.
"We have listened to that. Of course, ministers of religion who take the Life in the UK test should take it after four years.
"There are not compelling reasons to separate them out."
He also announced a new immigration category that will allow religious workers in non-pastoral and non-preaching roles to come to the UK for up to two years and said that the Home Office would work with representatives of different faiths to devise a new pre-entry qualification for all types of religious workers. This will not take the form of a test, but will aim to confirm that an applicant is qualified to carry out a religious role.
Raising the requirement for ministers of religion to speak English more proficiently from August would also help them assimilate into British society, said Mr McNulty. The requirement will be raised from level four to level six of the International English Language Testing System.
The proposals will apply across all religions.