Chuka Umunna’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Social Integration has a report out today calling for migrants to learn English before they arrive in the UK or be given compulsory language lessons once they arrive. The report states:

“The APPG believes that all immigrants should be expected to have either learned English before coming to the UK or be enrolled in compulsory ESOL classes upon arrival… speaking English is the key to full participation in our society and economy, and is a prerequisite for meaningful engagement with most British people.”

Chuka’s newly hard line on the language requirement is at odds with his previous criticism of those suggesting the policy. On Question Time in 2014 he tried to shut down Nigel Farage for suggesting essentially the exact same measure as today’s report:

“[You are] letting this debate descend into something that is quite nasty and quite ugly. There are a lot of buses and trains if you got on… where you would hear other people talking different languages other than English and you say that makes you feel awkward, what you say makes me feel awkward Nigel.”

Two-faced Chuka strikes again…