TNAG-0205-FCO40-241-Pensions-policy-1970 — Page 81

I thought

It

a large further influx of East African Asians. seems to me equally obvious that, despite the Commonwealth Immigrants, legislation which was rushed through Parliament a year or so ago to limit the rate of flow to Britain of even those East African Asians who are citizens of the U.K. and Colonies and have no other citizenship, this country is in fact one way or another committed to take in all this category of individuals that may come here; certainly it seems to me this would be the case if they were being thrown out or could not return to the East African ' country whence they came. These two considerati ons taken together clearly point to it being in Britain's interest that the East African expatriate Asian pensioners should themselves decide to stay in East Africa and not come to Britain. Unless they are actually thrown out of East Africa, by the East African Governments (either individually or en masse) there is surely a much better chance of this situation obtaining if H.M.G. takes over responsibility for their pensions than if we try and insist that this must remain the responsibility of the East African Govern- ments. If we take the latter course, there must surely be a risk (given the unpopularity of Asians in East Africa) that the East African Governments will at some point in the future, even if not immediately, refuse to pay;

and if this were to happen it seems to me that the temptation to come to this country, settle down here and press H.M.G. into picking up responsibility for the pension would be significantly increased. If this argument is to be soundly based, then these are clearly grounds why, in Britain's own interests, it is desirable that the East African expatriate Asians should be included within the field of H.M.G.'s proposed responsibility under the envisaged new scheme.

+

7: I apologise again for having in paragraphs 5 and 6 strayed so far from my own departmental responsibility. But I felt that I could not go along with the tone of certain parts of the first of the papers enclosed in your minute; and also that there was an argument concerning if the East African expatriate Asians which ought to be considered and which it would be no-one's departmental responsibility to advance, i.e., the argument that it is in Britain's own interests, in terms of coping with our internal racial problems, to include the East African expatriate Asians within the proposed new scheme.

"

....

i

tabdor

(A. J. Fairclough) West Indian Department 7 November, 1969