Jay Rayner is calling on people to add the word “foreign” to their Twitter bios to protest the Conservative’s planned crackdown on immigration.
Despite being British-born and bred, the renowned food critic appears to have tapped into a sentiment of people ashamed of Britain in the wake of Amber Rudd’s Tory conference speech on Wednesday.
The Home Secretary laid out plans to cut migration into the UK and said ministers will launch a consultation on whether businesses and universities should face stringent new tests before they are allowed to recruit workers and students from overseas.
She said a “tick-box culture” has allowed some firms to get away with not training local people and that ministers will consider if new tests to “ensure people coming here are filling gaps in the labour market, not taking jobs British people could do” should be imposed.
The plans to force firms to list foreign workers drew widespread criticism from a wide range of big names with a headline from The Times prompting particular outrage.
Just who would be affected was also questioned.
British universities that are not from the top tier may also have to do more to justify why they are offering places to foreigners.
Rudd said: “We will also look for the first time at whether our student immigration rules should be tailored to the quality of the course and the quality of the educational institution.”
She warned that some foreign students are turning up to study in the UK without being able to speak English properly, while their families are allowed to work here.
Some people are also adding #CitizenOfTheWorld to their profiles.
The question of foreign-born NHS staff has also been raised as an issue as around 25% of the health service is from overseas, forcing Theresa May to clarify the issue.
The PM faced a backlash after appearing to suggest foreign-born doctors will not be welcome in the United Kingdom beyond 2025.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced plans to train up to 1,500 more doctors a year in a bid to tackle the recruitment crisis and make NHS England “self-sufficient” in doctors by the middle of the next decade.
On Tuesday May said the NHS should have a “larger pool of British doctors” to pick from.
But the move prompted fierce scorn from NHS staff, with many defending foreign medics on Twitter with the hashtag “#NotAllHunts”.
Another area potentially affected would be that of care homes for the elderly with one in five staff in the UK being foreign-born.