On Sunday, The Independent newspaper published a story accusing the government of using excessively tough rhetoric on immigration, causing growing racial prejudice in UK society. In particular, the newspaper cited the use of billboard vans warning undocumented migrants to "Go Home or Face Arrest" as fueling racist sentiment.
However, vans with anti-immigrants billboards, like the one on the picture on the top of the story, no longer circulate in the country, a provider of the outdoor mobile advertising Promogroup confirmed to Sputnik.
The newspaper also referred to a study, which drew on a survey by the UK research organization Ipsos MORI.
However, after half a day of "digging into" the sources of the report, a spokesperson from Ipsos MORI told Sputnik the research was released by a client of the organization and not by Ipsos MORI itself. "This was not actually our data," the spokesperson said.
"We are not commenting on this report," the UK Home Office's press officer for immigration told Sputnik.
The net flow of immigrants to the United Kingdom has risen considerably, reaching 298,000 in the year up to September 2014, according to the Office for National Statistics. The figure is disappointing for Prime Minister David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May, who promised to keep the level of net migration below 100,000 by the end of the parliamentary term.
The UK general election is scheduled to take place on May 7. Euroscepticism and anti-immigration sentiments have been on the rise in Britain lately, which is proven by the UK Independence Party's growing momentum.
