that the question of what happens thereafter does need to be prepared for Ministerial consideration well before the end of the year. You may like to know that there are still amost 38,000 refugees awaiting settlement in Hong Kong, and that the figure is now falling very slowly, if at all, for a variety of reasons.
I am copying this letter to Stephen Boys Smith (Home Office), Stuart Hampson (Dept of Trade), David Wright (Cabinet Office) and Bill Becket (Law Officers' Dept).
Yours wi
Paul
(P Lever) Private Secretary
Mike Pattison Esq 10 Downing Street LONDON