The British minister who was behind the revocation of Dominica’s visa-free access to the United Kingdom, has been sacked in a cabinet reshuffle.
Suella Braverman was relieved of her job as Home Secretary on Monday by British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, following mounting political pressure on to act against her from within his own Conservative Party and the opposition Labour Party.
It had nothing to do with the Dominica visa matter but with pro-Palestinian protests in London. After the protests, Braverman wrote an opinion piece in The Times of London in which she blamed the police for “playing favorites” and for being lenient on them. She also described the protesters as “pro-Palestinian mobs” and “hate marchers”.
Sunak said she violated the ministerial code by not running the article by his office before it was published.
Braverman is known for her tough stance on immigration to Britain, although she is the daughter of immigrants from Kenya and Mauritius.
It was under her watch that the British government decided that Dominica passport holders need a visa to travel to and transit the United Kingdom because of concerns over the island’s Citizenship by Investment (CBI) program.
In a statement to the House of Commons in July, she said careful considerations of Dominica’s program showed “clear and evident abuse of the scheme, including the granting of citizenship to individuals known to pose a risk to the UK.”
“The decision to impose these visa requirements has been taken solely for migration and border security reasons and is not a sign of poor relations with these countries,” Braverman said back then. “Any decision to change a visa regime is not taken lightly and we keep our border and immigration system under regular review to ensure it continues to work in the UK national interest.”
The decision was described as a blow to Dominica’s CBI program by foreign minister, Dr. Vince Henderson and it is unknown as this point if there will be change in policy now the the United Kingdom has a new Home Secretary.
Other tough anti-immigration policies championed by Braverman was the plan to block the entry in the UK of refugees crossing the English Channel in small boat – the so-called “stop the boats” plan.
In March 2023, she admitted the controversial plan pushed “the boundaries of international law” but insisted action was needed because the British asylum system was being “overwhelmed.”
Meanwhile, Braverman has remained relatively quiet on her sacking only saying, ” “It has been the greatest privilege of my life to serve as Home Secretary.”
“I will have more to say in due course,” she added.
Isn’t it funny, how the British Government so often employs people of colour to do it’s dirty work and how willingly they do it. Good riddance to her. To get the visa restriction lifted we;d better start wining and dining her replacement – Mr Brexit referendum Cameron.
I do not always agree with DNO,they have taken me to the cleaners three times in favour of UWP..This time I support DNO in educating Jonathan Y St.Jean who,I know is a university graduate.Imposing visas on Dominica was just the beginning for Suella Braverman.All Jonathan has to do is read the letter sent to Rishi Sunak by Braverman after she was dismissed.She is accusing Sunak of betraying her on a number of agreements,imposing visas on countries like Dominica was one of the agreements although Dominica was not mentioned.Another one is she said the police was too soft in dealing with the pro- Palestinian rally in London.A comment Sunak did not want in the public domain.I would like to ask Jonathan what Braverman meant when she talk about dealing with the BOAT.The boat mean people coming into the UK without a visa.An educated man like Jonathan,making DNO make him look like a complete ahole.Visa restriction has a part to play with Braverman dismissal.
You are a piece of Skeritt work. Acting little girls you all have failed the Dominican people, and miserably.
I agree 100% with DNO on the St.Jean issue.St.Jean should read the letter sent to Rishi Sunak by Suella Braverman after she was sacked.The boat is refered to as people who enter the UK without a visa.Dominica was not mentioned in her letter but by reading,entering the UK visa free was a problem.So Mr Jonathan Y St.Jean do some more reading and you will see where Dominica comes in re immigration.Braverman wanted to get the EU to impose visas on countries like Dominica.The meeting was suppose to take place in 2024,it was sent back to 2025 dealing a blow to Braverman.
***Enter applause button.
Thank you for trying to educate them, Lin. You do not disappoint!
@ADMIN, the headline of the story is the bullseye. The most egregious thing she did wasn’t to revoke the visa free access yet you lead-off with that. The British government nor the British media hasn’t said that this played a role in her being sacked. Is this what’s called “yellow journalism”?.
ADMIN: The ‘bullseye’ for any article should be the facts which would appear in the content of the article.
We used the most well-known aspect from a Dominican perspective (the revoking of UK visas) to introduce the story to our primary audience.
This is not “yellow journalism”, the headline and contents of the article are factual where as you made clearly false and misleading claims in your criticism. We made it clear early in the article that the visa policy decision had nothing to do with this outcome. The headline does not make that claim either.
If you point out a factual error then we will acknowledge it. However, our time is too scarce to engage with those who are persistently unwilling to do the same.
We also value valid criticism, but if you (or anyone) wishes to double down on making false claims against DNO (or any individual or entity) regardless of the available facts we will simply not publish your comment.
This has always been our policy, you can see our full comment policy here for guidance: https://dominicanewsonline.com/news/policies/#comment-policy
Oh boy, the Indians are beginning to act just like the handkerchief-heads and Blacks in top positions at respective governments in the U.S. They are fighting, stumbling over each other over as to whom Republicans like more and who can be more anti-African. 🙄 We’ve seen this play out before, and in the end both groups remain inferior to the accepted master white supremacists.
So to uphold the country’s laws is “anti-african”? Does that mean that africans by nature have a tendency to be law breakers? You might have a point there
HMMM – boy move your racist moda c*** dere, about tendency! Your moda that have a tendency
Why you doh talk about caucasians that have a tendency to go all over the world and destroy indigenous people taking their resources/land for themselves?
No changes for Dominica even with new Home Secretary till the moment Skeritt and his best friend from Montreal Management releases data on how many crooks did he issue passports which shall not be issued at the first instance due absence of any due diligence checks.
If MistaDem can assassinate presidents what else dey cannot do nuh,,,
Is soh dey doh like the people that stand up for what is right!!!
But even Jesus dey assassinated!!!
Doh worry deir time will come!!!
Ms Braverman didn’t get sacked because she was the one who was responsible for putting handcuffs on the CBI program. She got sacked because of her insubordination to the Prime Minister. She got carried away with her untra right wing views and thought she could say and do almost anything in this age of populism and authoritarianism. She said that those who were homeless it was a choice. I hope she can accept that her sacking and humiliation are her choice as well. The same playbook of lack of humility is evident with the “I’m-the-people” guy in this country. Power corrupts and ultimate power corrupts ultimately. It’s poor journalism to focus a news story on the fact of Ms Braverman’s role in the CBI program and not to mention her disputes with the British Prime Minister to include writing in the press without following the required protocol. DNO you dropped the ball on this one. Of course in her position she would have been the one to lead on the CBI issues.
ADMIN: The article clearly states that she was not fired due to the CBI issue.
You wrote:
“It’s poor journalism to focus a news story on the fact of Ms Braverman’s role in the CBI program and not to mention her disputes with the British Prime Minister to include writing in the press without following the required protocol.”
If you read the article you will see we included that information, it is false to claim otherwise.
This guy Jonathan only sees what he wants and not what is actually written in articles.I have asked him to go back and read an article several times in the past to find out what was really written. He seems so eager to add his two cents (critique) to an article so he misses out on a lot of what the article actually said or maybe he just has difficulty comprehending the written word. I now wonder whether it’s the latter.
Dam good job, I am pleased to see the back of that woman she was nether liked or loved within her own party, they wanted her out a long time ago well done PM Rishi, she should of kicked out a long ago.
You are right,”Hopefully” you will get a Labour Government. The Last Labour administration
was headed by Tony Blair.After him you have had. David Cameron, Boris Johnson Theresa May, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. Some reigned as P. M. just for a few days,but all under the conservative Party. So you can stay with your Labour.
Labar say dayba.
she didnt revoke our visa free access, the British government did. So simply suggested it be done. But the question is WHY? Why? because Dominica alwasy doing something shady. Just like how we used to try and hide inferior bananas and stones in the boxes of fig to be shipped to the UK, as if they will never find out. as if they will never ever open the box. Same way we have treated our CBI program by selling our passports to people we should not have. Now the UK is doing what it has to do for themselves. Is not like these high rolling criminals want our citizenship to actually come here. Many cbi citizens will never set foot on our shores. They want the citizenship for ease of access to countries like the UK USA etc. Her dismissal and our sanction are 2 separate and distinct matters.
@ if we knew better, she was responsible it was her recommendation. There is no information indicating that another minister would have made the same recommendation she made. Regardless of her skin color she is a racist and she had become an embarrassment to her party.
not every truth is good to tell !
She got sacked for making unauthorised comments on behalf of her her right wing supporters within the Tory Party. She did NOT get sacked for revoking visa free travel for Dominicans to the UK. Dominica and in particular its ruler is not that important. Small fray in Europe!
“Braverman is known for her tough stance on immigration to Britain, although she is the daughter of immigrants from Kenya and Mauritius.” Unfortunately, she is not alone in this behaviour; close the gate now that me and my family are in.
I imagine she was born in the UK. That sentiment is held by most people who migrate to these countries within 5 years.
These handkerchief-heads are a dime a dozen in England. They define themselves by their anti-African, anti-black, pro-millionaire stance that practically destroyed India’s society after the British starvation of the Bay Of Bengal that slaughtered 19 million Indians.
DNO,that news is stale news for those who these who read and follow international news. But better late than never for those who listen to q95 and the media whore.I am not surprised you did not mention the EU’s meeting to impose visas on countries like Dominica was pushed back to 2025 instead of 2024.That too was in the news.
Trust in god at all times.this woman was dis liked by people even on her own party.she was colder than my freezer. It amazes me how she got this far in politics. Hopefully they will call a general election and get a Labour Party in government.