Vans carrying signs warning illegal immigrants to “go home or face arrest” have been scrapped by the government.

The controversial vans, which roamed Barking and Dagenham earlier this year as part of a pilot scheme by the government, will not be introduced across the country, it was announced today.

The government said the scheme was found to be “too much of a blunt instrument” and that a full evaluation of the scheme will be published shortly.

The scheme was attacked by Rita Chadha, chief executive of the Refugee and Migrant Forum of East London, who said it was “reminiscent of the 1970s slogans tell people who were not white British to leave”.

She said: “It divides communities and scares people. It suggests that immigration is a bigger issue than it actually is.”

Earlier this month the Advertising Standards Authority called on the Home Office to ensure that any future vans included qualifications, after the ASA received hundreds of complaints.

However, it cleared the scheme over these complaints, saying it would not incite racial tensions and was not related to the immigrants’ race or ethnicity.