Keith Vaz accused Priti Patel of playing "divide and rule" politics by claiming Britain's curry houses could be saved in the event of 'Brexit'. (AFP Photo)
Britain's longest-serving Indian-origin MP Keith Vaz today kicked off a curry war with senior-most Indian-origin minister Priti Patel as part of a debate to leave or remain in the European Union (EU), accusing her of playing "divide and rule politics of the worst kind".
The Labour party MP from Leicester East accused Ms Patel of playing "divide and rule" politics by claiming Britain's curry houses could be saved in the event of 'Brexit'.
"I was furious to see Priti Patel claiming that leaving the EU and shutting the door on immigrants from Poland and elsewhere would save Britain's curry houses. This is divide and rule politics of the worst kind," said Mr Vaz, who favours the 'remain campaign' in the debate ahead of the referendum on June 23.
"The truth is that the stoking of anti-Eastern European sentiment is a new form of racism that is no less bad than that experienced by previous waves of immigrants from the Indian subcontinent... Giving in to rhetoric that sets one community against another would be to take a step towards a less tolerant and more mean-spirited Britain," he said.
The chair of the influential Home Affairs Select Committee was reacting to Ms Patel's 'Save the British Curry' campaign earlier this week, when she had declared that "curry houses are becoming the victims of the EU's uncontrolled immigration rules" and called on the Indian diaspora to "Vote Leave" in the referendum.
"I agree with Priti that there is a crisis happening in our country's curry houses. It is deeply alarming that on average two are closing every week. But this has nothing to do with the EU and everything to do with the policies espoused by Priti Patel, who just happens to be an employment minister and the government's 'Diaspora Champion'," Mr Vaz countered.
He believes the crux of the problem lies is the current visa scheme, which has set a salary threshold of 29,750 pounds for chefs, much higher than the average salary for cooks in curry houses.
"This makes it extremely difficult for the nation's curry restaurants to recruit chefs from abroad. This could easily be solved in a stroke of Priti Patel's pen by lowering the minimum salary requirement for chefs, something I have campaigned for along with MPs from all parties. But Priti Patel has failed to address this vital issue and is now conveniently using the EU as a scapegoat," he said.
Mr Vaz's party colleague Seema Malhotra, Labour's shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, also echoed his views.
"This Curry House con trick from Priti Patel demonstrates shocking hypocrisy. As a minister who attends Cabinet, it is within her power to influence government policy in this area, but she would rather try to blame Europe for the Tories' failure on immigration," she said.