5
Page 50 unsatisfactory in practice, and a most inconvenient precedent. The wide discretion conferred on the Secretary of State by the Aliens Order has been the subject of criticism from time to time, but it is fair to say that this criticism derives most of its force from the suggestion that the Secretary of State by his exercise of this power can expel from the country at his sole discretion an alien who may have been resident here many years and whose interests and associations may be mainly with this country, and the fact that it is very rare for the power of deportation to be exercised in such circumstances is not a complete answer. Under this Bill the Secretary of State would not in any case be able to deport an individual who had been resident in this country for seven years (or five years if the proposal in paragraph 8 above is adopted), and in the Home Secretary's view that, and the fact that the Secretary of State's actions can be challenged in Parliament at any time, is sufficient safeguard of the rights of the individual.
Page 50
Page 50
68