Vince Cable insisted the government was 'completely united' on immigration after earlier claiming David Cameron's comments on the subject were 'unwise'.
The Lib Dem business secretary was greeted by angry protesters as he arrived for a visit in Greater Manchester at the centre of a political storm.
The protesters – complaining about government cuts – disrupted a campaign visit to Levenshulme by Mr Cable. One was arrested.
The business secretary said the speech risked 'inflaming extremism' and was 'unwise'.
But Mr Cable, who was touring businesses in the north west, said later there was 'no division' between him and the prime minister on the issue.
“It is about a cap on immigration and we have coalition policy on that,” he said.
Mr Cable refused to comment further on the row.
Around 30 protesters had gathered outside a bar on Stockport Road where Mr Cable was meeting local business owners.Asked if it was essential for local Lib Dems campaigning ahead of elections in May to distance themselves from the Tory immigration policy, he again declined to comment.
The protesters waved placards accusing Lib Dems of supporting Tory cuts to local services.
One - who tried to force his way into M19 Bar - was arrested for breach of the peace.
As the meeting ended, Mr Cable said: "I've come across quite a lot of this but it doesn't represent the mainstream.
“People are making their points of view in different ways."
Police cordoned off the alleyway behind the bar as Mr Cable entered and left through a back door to avoid protesters outside.
One, Beth Marshall, from Love Levenshulme Hate Cuts, said: "The Lib Dems want to come across as the nice part of this coalition government but there is no nice part to it.
“This is about people taking action and taking matters into their own hands."
Lib Dem Councillor John Commons who stands for re-election in May in Levenshulme said he did not think national politics would harm Lib Dems' chances in local elections in Manchester.
He said: "Of course there will be some people thinking in terms of the national picture but most of them will be thinking of the best person to serve the local area and after 26 years doing that I am quietly confident."
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Unfortunately one cannot believe a word that Vince Cable or any other Lib Dem says. says.
How ill-informed these protesters are. They don't seem to take into account any facts but just protest for the sake of it.
How do they have so much time on their hands on a workign week day? If they spent as much time getting a career as they do protestingm they may just make a success of themselves.
The business secretary said the speech risked 'inflaming extremism' and was 'unwise'.
So lets say nothing,pretend there is not a problem,the public have been voicing their concerns on the problems of immigration is'nt it about time something was done about it by government instead of hiding for fear of upsetting the immigrants.
Those that want to practise extremism will do so whatever so deal with them that arguement is totally divorced from the problem of uncapped immigration,sort it out the country is at breaking point if it has not already broken beyond repair.
Levenshulme 1 LibDems 0
Levenshulme 1 LibDems 0
i voted lib-dem in the last general election thinking they would sweep to power, i didnt think for a second they would jump into bed with the tories and make that toff PM, I WILL NEVER VOTE LIB-DEM AGAIN!
These Labour supporters risk having egg all over their face come the next general election, all they do is stand on the side lines shouting against every cut and against every policy of the government. but never putting forward an alternative.
inflation down ,unemployment down ,growth up the coalition will reap the rewards
Completely united. Yeah, right.
Immigration from non-European countries reflects just a tiny minority. The problem is the un-controllable European migrants who came in the their thousands. I remember immigration was not that an issue until UK opened its doors to these poor European countries. Unfortunately, UK is now governed by European laws, so they have less power on what they decide.
I strongly agree that it is essential that every immigrant that come to England must speak English, but unfortunately it is the fact that there are more European migrants in this country who can't speak a single word of English as compared to those who came from outside Europe. I believe the majority of non-European migrants who are in UK come from those countries colonised by Britain, (e.g Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya, etc...) and they have already known how to speak English.
I was in bank the other day, where I witnessed the European passport holder man ( a Romanian) couldn't understand the single word the staff lady in bank was saying. So she ended up not helping this man.
To cut the long story short, if Mr Cameron and its government want to cup immigration net. They must start controlling the European boarders. I'm afraid net immigration especially from Europe will even treble as the can now claim benefits as soon as they arrive in this country.
You can't believe anything any politician says! They serve only themselves.
I have listened to the other party ministers who have criticised Cameron for what he said the criticism is quite unjustified he points out that our infrastructure is creaking at the influx of immigrants that have been made welcome by the last administration.
We have to provide an education as well as provide an health service for all these immigrants, the Labour party that resided at No 10 Downing Street for 13 years did not have a mandate from the electorate to open our borders to all and sundry.
Now that Cameron has broached the subject everyone is condemning him, what is it that we in this country cannot have an adult discussion about immigration without being called, heckled and labelled a racist. Immigration is a problem I welcome a cap on the numbers, lets welcome immigrants who can contribute to our country like doctors, nurses, scientist, engineers etc.
Our elected Members of Parliament should be able to discuss in a responsible manner immigration without fear of being called a racist, France banned Muslim women from wearing the burka in public without no more than a small protest could you imagine if we did that.
We are a small island and we cannot go on letting everyone who wants to live in this country live here the line has to be drawn somewhere, I welcome a grown up discussion on the problem that Blair and Brown left us.
I am an anti fascist and an anti racist but I will say that the British people did not ask for a multi racial society and there have to be limits. Push too hard and you risk a backlash.
You only have to drive around levenshulme to see how far immigration has come in britain.i Drove through levenshulme and it looks like a clone of longsight wall to wall takeaways and 24 hour booze shops all owned by asians....the place looks scruffy.
"Its my right, not to like who i like!"
Steptoe and SOn
Libdem Cllr John Commons (up for reelection in may, Levenshulme) said he did not think national politics would harm Lib Dems' chances in local elections in Manchester (to the manchester evening news) ... maybe he's living on cloud cu cu land or something? I'm not sure but given there isn't a single Libdem standing in Tameside it's fair to say i think the national party knows what it's doing will effect things