British government defends 'go-home' immigrant vans

Britain's government has defended a controversial campaign featuring vans with billboards urging illegal immigrants to "go home or face arrest", after criticism from a senior minister.

Two trucks, each displaying a huge poster with a number for migrants to text if they wish to return to their country of origin, were driven around six London boroughs for a week in a pilot scheme by the interior ministry.

Posters, leaflets and advertisements in local newspapers will run for a further month.

Business Secretary Vince Cable, a member of the Liberal Democrat party, which is the junior partner in the coalition government with Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives, called the campaign "stupid and offensive".

But Cameron's spokesman defended the vans on Monday, saying it was "clear that this is already working" and that getting illegal immigrants to leave voluntarily was the most cost-effective solution.