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families to remain in the sub-Continent for a further generation before facing the issue of reunification in this country. By that stage, the cultural links of the family with the UK may be very tenuous indeed, especially when we consider the implications of descent in the female line.
6. In this Bill we are for the first time creating a British citizenship which in terms of right of abode will be virtually identical with immigration provisions. A little knowledge in this matter is a dangerous thing, and before I took on this job I had very little to do with immigration work. But if the Government allows citizenship by descent into the second generation, we might well have a Bill which, far from stabilising the status quo, substantially increases long term immigration from the new Commonwealth countries, and particularly from the sub-Continent, where the desire to keep a foot in both camps is, for very understandable cultural and economic reasons, very strong indeed.
7.
As a footnote, I should recall that when my predecessor but one, Sir D. Hawley, visited the sub-Continent six years ago, he was very much struck by the widespread tendency of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis (with the right of abode here) to marry in the sub-Continent and to leave their wives and families there for 12 years or so. He also drew attention to the system of remittances from heads of families in the UK to support families still in the sub-Continent and to invest in property etc. there. This 'two worlds' tendency (the phrase is Sir` D. Hawley's) may possibly have weakened in the interval, but I have no reason to think that it has.
8.
I am not copying this to Mr. Addison in the Home Office.
10 August 1981
Vanes
W.J. Adams
Copies to:
Sir J, Graham
....
DV
Legal Adviser
Mr. Howells/Mr. Paterson, NTD Mr. Partridge, MVD
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