xxxviii
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF
Question put, That the Amendment be made.
The Committee divided.
Ayes, 5
Mr Dennis Canavan Mr Ted Rowlands
Mr Peter Shore Mr Bowen Wells
Mr Michael Welsh
Paragraph, as amended, agreed to.
Paragraphs 5.5 to 5.9 read and agreed to.
The Committee deliberated.
Noes, 4
Mr Michael Jopling Mr Ivan Lawrence Mr Ian Taylor Mr Peter Temple-Morris
A paragraph-(Mr Dennis Canavan)-brought up, and read, as follows:
"We believe that this difficult problem should be considered and resolved on grounds of principle rather that expediency. Bearing in mind the generous treatment given by the British Government to the Falkland Islanders, we believe that the treatment of Hong Kong BDTCs should be no less generous. We would certainly deplore any discrimination on ethnic grounds. For the British Government to claim that it could not grant right of abode to all Hong Kong BTDCs because the House of Commons would never approve it is simply "passing the buck". The British Government should take a principled stand on the matter and put its proposal to Parliament. We can well understand the fears of the people of Hong Kong following the recent atrocities in the People's Republic of China. Nevertheless we believe it is unlikely that any situation will arise where millions of people from Hong Kong would want all at once to exercise right of abode in the UK. Even if many of them did come to the UK, their entrepreneurial and other skills would probably make an important contribution toward improving our economy and quality of life. Furthermore, we believe that British Government policy should try to encourage as many Hong Kong people as possible to stay in Hong Kong, provided that there is no threat to their security. Unfortunately existing policy is having the adverse effect of encouraging a partial brain drain from Hong Kong, whereby some highly skilled people leave Hong Kong for several crucial years in order to qualify for the right of abode in countries other than the UK. We are also of the opinion that, if some qualified extension of the right of abode were to be offered only to certain categories of Hong Kong BDTCs it would be an invidious task to draw the line. We therefore conclude that the only fair and consistent solution to the problem is to grant the right of abode in the UK to all Hong Kong BDTCs."
Question put, That the paragraph be inserted in the Report.
The Committee divided.
Ayes, 2
Noes, 7
Mr Dennis Canavan Mr Michael Welsh
Mr Michael Jopling Mr Ivan Lawrence Mr Ted Rowlands Mr Peter Shore
Postponed paragraph 4.14 read and agreed to.
Mr Ian Taylor
Mr Peter Temple-Morris Mr Bowen Wells
Motion made, to leave out paragraphs 4.15 and 4.16, and insert the following paragraphs-(Mr Peter Temple-Morris):
4.15 We have to repeat therefore that we do not consider that the United Kingdom's obligations to Hong Kong go as far as granting right of abode to 3.28 million or more Hong Kong people. Virtually all those people see themselves as Chinese and their future is inextricably bound up with China. Their natural feelings towards China and concern for what happens there are understandable and obvious and far transcend connections with or feelings towards Britain. From the British point of view to promise right of abode to 3.28 million people or more would be unjustified, politically impractical and potentially disastrous in ethnic terms. The British people are not ungenerous in responding to emergencies and we turn to this later. However we believe that they do not feel that their obligations in the present situation, which they do not see as an emergency, can justify such an enormous potential intake of immigrants. We therefore reject the case for granting right of abode, Entry or Readmission to BDTCs and/or those entitled to such passports as a group.