PS
CONFIDENTIAL
нко 3404
RECEIVED REGISTRY
1 1 APR 1990
FROM:
DATE:
c.c.
After Paul (66
David Lidington
2 February 1990 PS/Mr Maude
Mr Gillmore
Mr McLaren
Mr Paul, HKD
Mr Burns, News Dept
Mr Yeo MP
DESK OFFICER
INDEX
REGISTRY
PA
Action Taken
Mr Fraser
Mr Davis MP
Mr Carlisle MP
SECRETARY OF STATE'S MEETING WITH 1922 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE THURSDAY, 1 FEBRUARY 1990
1. The Secretary of State discussed briefly with me last night the outcome of his and the Home Secretary's meeting with the 1922 Executive. He said that the meeting had been a difficult one and that almost all of those who spoke had expressed either hostility or scepticism about the Government's proposals. There was a clear desire for the Government to come forward sooner rather than later with the Bill so that Parliament could take a decision and the argument within the Conservative Party be laid to rest. John Hannam MP expressed a generally felt view when he told the two Secretaries of State that they ought to make some concession to their backbench critics on the substance of package. Mr Hannam suggested that perhaps the passports granted under the scheme could be withheld from issue until 1997. The Foreign Secretary argued that this would expose the assurances scheme to threat from a possible future Labour Government and reiterated that the Government's package represented the bottom line so far as Hong Kong was concerned. He is though in no doubt that the 1922 Officers and Executive do want the Government to come forward with some concession and that this question will resurface both before the Bill's introduction and during its passage through Parliament.
2. Mr Yeo later attended the full 1922 Committee meeting which is open to all Conservative backbenchers. It was thinly attended. Both Nicholas Budgen MP, an opponent of the assurances package, and William Powell MP, a supporter, argued that the committee stage of the Bill ought to be taken on the floor of the House. Mr Budgen reckoned that since the Hong Kong proposals represented a substantial departure from the Government's immigration policy, a full debate by Parliament was necessary. Mr Yeo's view is that the Government's agreement to have the committee stage on the floor of the House might be presented as some sort of concession in itself to backbench opinion and would therefore be helpful in terms of getting the measure through the Commons.
CONFIDENTIAL
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David Lidington Special Adviser