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DSR 11C (Revised 5/87)
families. But as I had to make clear during my visit to
Hong Kong earlier this month, there is simply no way that
the British Government could grant to several million
people the right to come and live in Britain.
Immigration on such a massive scale would pose immense
practical problems. It would test our capacity in all
housing, employment, transport,
kinds of areas
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inner-city services - to an unprecedented degree. A
recent report by the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs
reached a similar conclusion. There would be no more
cruel deception than an insurance policy on which we
could not deliver.
18. But this does not mean that we are washing our hands
of this problem. The British Government will do
everything we possibly can to meet the concerns of the
Hong Kong people:
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Firstly, we have made clear tht if the worst came to
the worst, Britain would not close the door. We would do
everything in our capacity to help and if the numbers
leaving Hong Kong were larger than we could deal with
alone, we would mobilise support from the international
community. We have already started work on this.
Secondly, we are looking urgently at what changes can
be made to our immigration arrangements to offer some
reassurance to Hong Kong people. We envisage a scheme
which will make some provision for people in both the
private and public sectors on the basis of their