What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Sajid Javid wants immigrants to have to pass a test on "British values".

The Home Secretary said he wanted newcomers to the UK to understand the "liberal, democratic values that bind our society together".

In his speech to the Conservative Party Conference, Mr Javid said the existing “Life in the UK” test for new citizens is not enough.

He told delegates: "Maybe it is helpful for people to know the name of the sixth wife of Henry VIII.

"But far more important to me, is that they also understand the liberal, democratic values that bind our society together."

(Image: PA)

The Home Secretary told the hall that "Citizenship should mean more than being able to win a pub quiz."

He told the conference: "It might not always feel like it, but our mainstream cultural values unite us all.

"We are – and will continue to be – the home of the rule of law, of civil liberties, of firm but fair immigration rules, of racial equality, of respect for every citizen."

I t came as he announced plans to crack down on forced marriage which include inserting including include an explicit reference to forced marriage in the immigration rules "to demonstrate that forced marriage is unacceptable in the UK".

Home offices sources said plans for the new test were in their very early stages.

(Image: REUTERS)

But Labour slammed the plans suggesting that the Home Secretary had the wrong priorities.

Diane Abbott MP, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, said: “It’s not clear this is any improvement on Theresa May’s derided ‘British values’ test in 2015, or even Norman Tebbit’s earlier cricket test.

"The idea that a Government whose hostile environment policy and handling of the Windrush scandal has brought shame to the country, should be defining British values is deeply worrying.

"People in this country value tolerance and getting along together. To demand something else is surely very un-British.”