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Immigration
Mr. Whitelaw: If the hon. Gentleman will bear with me he will hear further reasons for my proposals.
Immigration
256
4 DECEMBER 1979
was either born in the United Kingdom or born to a parent who was born here. We cannot go further and extend the provision to all women who are citizens of the United Kingdom and colonies. This would mean leaving the door open to further primary immigration because of the facility of registering minor child- dren as citizens under our nationality law. Mr. Alexander W. Lyon (York): Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr. Whitelaw: I shall give way once
Inevitably this means that the ability of some women who have settled here to be joined by their husbands and fiancés will be removed. This is the price that we have to pay to stop marriage being used as a device to achieve admission to the United Kingdom. It is reasonable to pro- vide that a husband or fiancé should not be admitted if the marriage has been en- tered into for immigration purposes. That is sensible. Indeed, the Labour Govern- ment have already so provided to exclude those who do not intend to live perma- nently with their wives. I see nothing strange at all in the requirement that the parties to the marriage should have met.
I have already made it clear that it is not part of my intention to affect the posi- tion of a girl who was born abroad be- cause her parents happened to be out of the country at the time. I made it quite plain in my statement that we would treat her as though she was born here. I have always made it plain that both she, and our citizens bom here, would be able to be joined by their husbands and fiancés for marriages that were not contracted for immigration purposes.
Nevertheless, the argument has been put to me that the rules should confer not a discretion but a right on women born here to be joined by their husbands. It has also been suggested that women who happen to have been born abroad because their parents were out of the country at the time should have their right to be joined by their husbands written into the rules and not left to the exercise of dis- cretion outside the rules.
I have considered these arguments care- fully and they seem to have great force. I am glad to be able to inform the House that I accept them. The new rules, when laid. will incorporate both suggestions. They will provide that no woman will be able to bring in her husband or fiance if the marriage is primarily in order to obtain his admission to the United King- dom, or if one of the parties no longer has any intention of living permanently with the other, or if the parties to the marriage have not met. Otherwise an entry clearance will-not may be issued provided that the woman is a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies who
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more.
Mr. Lyon: The upshot of that con- cession is that it makes the whole issue much more racialist. What the right hon. Gentleman has just said shows that it discriminates between one citizen and another. Will he now tell us what legal advice will be available about whether his proposals are in violation of the Euro- pean Convention on Human Rights?
Mr. Whitelaw: That is a matter for the courts when the time comes for them to consider it. It is not a matter for me at this stage. I reject entirely the accusa- tion that the proposals are racially dis- criminatory. Increasing numbers children from the ethnic minority groups are born here and there is no intention of preventing them from bringing in their husbands to join them, provided that the marriages are not contracted for immigra- tion purposes.
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Our proposals have been criticised for discriminating between the sexes and it is true that some women settled in this country will be treated less favourably than men in their ability to bring in their spouses. Nationality legislation and the Immigration Act prevent us from apply. ing the same provision to men. A women who is a Commonwealth citizen and marries a citizen of the United Kingdom or Colonies with the right of abode here herself acquires the right of abode. All wives of such citizens may register as citizens themselves and acquire the right of abode. In these circumstances, it would be fruitless to attempt-
Mr. S. C. Silkin (Dulwich): I am grate- ful to the Home Secretary; he is always courteous in these matters. In view of what the right hon. Gentleman said in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for York (Mr. Lyon) about this being a
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