Radio show for migrants launched

Many immigrants come to work in the fields of Lincolnshire

A radio news service for migrant Portuguese workers is being introduced in Lincolnshire.

The weekly round-up of local news, which be will be broadcast on BBC Radio Lincolnshire, is believed to be the first scheme of its kind in the UK.

The programme will be broadcast every Sunday at 1805 GMT in Portuguese.

It is being launched to cater for the needs of the county's growing migrant population who come to work in the agricultural sector.

Different interests

Rui Silva, translator and presenter on the News in Portuguese, said: "The news is made by English people and their interests are not the same as the Portuguese community.

"In some situations it can happen that Portuguese people would be interested in different things."

Mr Silva, who also works for Boston Borough Council, said: "Many times there are people that go there and they don't have a clue about their rights, what they can get from the council.

"A lot of the time they don't know they have a lot of rights from the European Union and in terms of rights they probably think they are second-class people in this country - and they're not."

If successful, it is hoped the service will be extended to include other languages of migrant workers in the area, such as Polish, Russian or Latvian.