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January 23, 2016

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Migrants to UK face 鈥榣angauge鈥 examination

Britain鈥檚 Home Office was left red-faced yesterday after unveiling new English tests for migrants 鈥 but misspelling the word 鈥渓anguage鈥 in its announcement.

Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday launched a 20-million-pound (US$28.5 million) language fund to help women, particularly Muslims, who arrive in Britain after getting married but struggle to speak English.

He also said women from non-EU countries who fail to pass an English language test after two and a half years in the country could face deportation, drawing criticism from Muslim groups and opposition parties.

A press release giving details of the move spoke of a 鈥渘ew English langauge test鈥 and had to be corrected.

Asked if Cameron was disappointed by the mistake, his spokeswoman told reporters: 鈥淎ll of us are open to mistakes at times. The prime minister is pretty confident that his team speak English competently.鈥

The error drew ridicule on Twitter 鈥 broadcaster Anita Anand wrote it was 鈥渂eyond parody,鈥 while user @DaveGoddard 1971 joked: 鈥淢akes you proud to be British.鈥


 

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