LONDON, Oct. 23 (UPI) —
A plan to use vans as mobile billboards telling illegal immigrants to leave is being dropped, British Home Secretary Teresa May said Tuesday.
The signs advising illegal immigrants to go home were criticized by both the Labor Party and the Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives’ partner in the coalition, The Independent reported. May conceded a 10,000 pound ($16,000) pilot project was disappointing, although she disputed the Labor Party’s charge that only one person decided to leave as a result of the campaign.
"Politicians should be willing to step up to the plate and say when they think something actually hasn’t been as good an idea, and I think they were too blunt an instrument," May said.
Complaints were made to the Advertising Standards Authority that the signs were both inaccurate and racist. The authority did not find racism but said the arrest statistics on the signs were inaccurate.