We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

Make the most of your money by signing up to our newsletter fornow

In a scathing attack, the Communities Secretary says town halls are squandering money by misinterpreting equality legislation.

The pandering to multilingual needs, he says, gives no incentive for migrants to learn English and is “putting them at a disadvantage” in daily life.

He says in a statement to be issued to councils today: “Automatically translating endless documents wastes taxpayers’ money and undermines communities. Town halls should halt it.”

While conceding interpreters may be necessary “in emergencies”, he attacks councils that automatically provide free and full translations in more than 70 languages. He says: “I am concerned such services are in many cases being provided unnecessarily because of a misinterpretation of equality or human rights legislation.

“Such translation services have an unintentional, adverse impact on integration by reducing the incentive for some migrant communities to learn English.”