Stephen Williams MP - working hard for Bristol West

Stephen Williams Joins Alphonse Petition Submission

12.11.48pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 7th Aug 2007

Stephen Williams at St Nicholas Church, before departing for London (photography: Alexander Woodman)

Alphonse Daudet Touna, Stephen Williams and other supporters of the 'Keep Alphonse Drumming' campaign, before their departure to London

Stephen Williams MP has today travelled to the Home Office with supporters of Cameroon-born musician Alphonse Daudet Touna to submit a letter and petition signed by over 1,800 individuals to the Immigration Minister, Liam Byrne.

Alphonse, who teaches music and African culture, came to the UK in 2002, but despite the amount and variety of community work he has done, the Home Office refused to renew his work permit at the end of 2006.

Stephen Williams has supported the 'Keep Alphonse Drumming' campaign, which seeks to persuade the Government to allow Alphonse to remain in the UK. The refusal to allow Alphonse to remain was originally overturned in 2005 following a letter to the Minister. However, an application to renew this for 2007 was refused at the end of 2006. Stephen Williams has written to the Immigration Minister on a number of times in the past eight months regarding this, but on each occasion the Minister refused to overturn the decision for a second time.

In a letter to be submitted with the petition, Stephen writes:

"There has been a groundswell of public support for Alphonse, whose contribution to the community in both Bristol and the wider area has been significant…I believe there is a very compelling argument for Alphonse to be permitted to remain in the UK, and I believe that it would be fundamentally unjust and unfair if he were forced to leave."

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