120
IS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT )
SECRET
C. P. (49) 164
25TH JULY, 1949
CABINET
COPY NO. 31
DEPORTATION OF BRITISH SUBJECTS FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM
Memorandum by the Home Secretary
1. At their meeting on 18th July, (C. M. (49) 46th Conclusions, Minute 7) the Cabinet invited me to submit a memorandum on the question whether powers should be taken to enable the Government to deport British subjects who, not being citizens of the United Kingdom, engage in subversive activities in this country. On 21st July, in Supplementary Questions about the dock strike, Mr. W. J. Brown, M. P., and Mr. Eden, M. P., asked
M.P., why the Government did not take power to deport the Canadian citizens who were fomenting the strike; and Mr. Brown has now put down the following Question for answer on 28th July:-
2.
"To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has given consideration to the question of seeking, by legislation or otherwise, powers to deport to their country of origin persons seeking to disrupt the normal industrial life of Britain; and what conclusion he has now reached. "
My existing powers of deportation are contained (i) in the Aliens Order, 1920, which enables me to deport any alien:-
(a) if he has been convicted of an offence for which he could be imprisoned without the option of a fine (or of one or two other specific offences) and the court has recommended his deportation;
3.
(b) if a court of summary jurisdiction certifies within
twelve months after his last entry to the United Kingdom (i) that he has within the preceding three months been in receipt of poor relief or found wandering without visible means of subsistence, or (ii) that he has been sentenced in a foreign country for an extradition crime; or
(c) if I deem it to be conducive to the public good to
make a Deportation Order against him.
I also have certain powers under the Prevention of Violence (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1939, to expel from Great Britain any person, whether an alien or a British subject, who has not been ordinarily resident in Great Britain throughout the prceding twenty years or, if he is under 20, throughout his life. These powers can be used only "with a view to preventing the commission in Great Britain of acts of violence designed to influence public opinion or Government policy with respect to Irish apagar50,0f662 before making an expulspage 250f Egainst any person I must be reasonably satisfied that he is concerned in the preparation or instigation of acts of violence designed
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