Council tax hikes 'to pay for English lessons for migrants'

They believe the costs of the scheme, backed by Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly, are likely to fall on local taxpayers.

Miss Kelly's Commission on Integration and Cohesion is today expected to support the idea of encouraging new migrants who speak no English to abandon their home languages in the interests of integration.

But a behind-the-scenes row is rumbling on over who will foot the bill.

There are fears that local councils will have to find the cash. This would increase the burden on council tax payers – whose bills have almost doubled since Labour came to power.

Local government leaders have complained that ministers have frozen the money Whitehall spends on the colleges which run courses in English as a second language'.

The move means that in future most working migrants will no longer get lessons free. Instead they will be asked to pay up to £100 a week for English courses.

Miss Kelly has suggested that councils could find money to pay for the teaching by cutting back on the estimated £50million spent on translation services for migrants. She says these help them to avoid using English.

The report from the Commission is also likely to suggest that businesses should pay for English lessons for immigrants they employ.

It will also put the final nail in the coffin of the doctrine of multiculturalism by calling for an end to public funding for groups catering to different ethnic communities.

Ministers will break with decades of support for such funding by backing the move, according to Government sources.