Progress deputy head backs immigration vote

"It is important to have this debate in this country," Sandberg told Norway's NRK channel.  "The referendum in Switzerland will affect the EU and later also Norway. We have been aware of this problem for a long time, and now it is time for this debate to come." 

 

Progress's immigration spokesman Mazyar Keshvari on Monday made the party's first call for a referendum, following the shock result of a vote in Switzerland.  

 

On Sunday, the Swiss voted with a razor-thin 50.3 percent majority to limit immigration by drawing up immigration quotas. 

 

Helga Pedersen, the deputy head of Norway's Labour party, attacks the proposal, saying that immigration was essential for the functioning of Norway's welfare state.