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British Nationality
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[BARONESS ELLES.] respect--follows the trend of the nationality laws of most states, particularly those of the United Nations. I would point out that there is no provision in the Bill which goes in any way against the provisions which guarantee the human rights of individuals on the basis of race, colour, creed or national origin.
I should like to thank my noble friend Lord Belstead in particular for two amendments which have been introduced into the Bill. The first relates to the only case where there was a question of discrimination on religious grounds, to which I drew the attention of my noble friend. It was only a very small but nevertheless very important point for individuals. It related to the definition of the word "terminated ". That has now been changed and I am very grateful to my noble friend for that amendment. The other point might appear to be very small to many Members of your Lordships' House. Nevertheless, it is of very real concern to the many Asian families with which I have close connections in this country, where the women have difficulty in learning English because of the kind of life style that they lead in this country. Provision for these people has also been made by my noble friend and the Government.
I rather resent the attitude which has been evident in this debate-the non-recognition of the very real attempt by the Government to meet these very many difficulties which concern a great many individuals in this country who would have been affected by the terms of the Bill as it came here from another place.
In conclusion, it should be recognised that minorities --by which I do not mean ethnic minorities, although that is the normal term given to regional groupings (I am sure that the noble and learned Lord would not consider the Welsh, the Scots and the Northern Irish to be ethnic minorities in the sense in which he has used the term in his amendment) but rather those groups of people who have come from other parts of the world and who now live in this country as citizens of the United Kingdom-are for the first time being guaranteed British citizenship on equal terms with any other British citizen. With that British citizenship they have the right of abode and the right to transmit their citizenship to their children, if they are born abroad, on precisely the same terms and conditions as any other British citizen. Surely the Government are to be congratulated upon that. This is something which has never happened before.
No Government up to now have had the courage to introduce this kind of Bill. I would implore all those sections of society who deal with minority groups to explain to them the benefits of the Bill, and to assure them that those living in this country have equal rights, regardless of colour, regardless of race, and regardless of creed. I beg to support the Motion.
5.1 p.m.
Lord Walston: My Lords, I, too, apologise for speaking without having put my name down earlier. I am moved to do so by a profound sense of sadness. This I agree with virtually all the speakers to whom I have listened today--is a bad Bill, albeit that it is not quite so bad as when it first came to this House. But it is a bad Bill and it is a sad Bill for this country. I base that statement on four grounds: on the grounds
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of history, on the grounds of Commonwealth, on the grounds of pragmatism, and on the grounds of justice. Historically, as we all know, this has been a country that has by and large kept its gates open, very much to our own advantage, whether it was in the time of the first Elizabeth, to people like Holbein and Erasmus, whether it was to the Huguenot refugees from France, or to the Jewish refugees from Germany and from Russia and Poland, We have this long tradition of welcoming people who want to come here. It has been very much to our advantage and it has been to their advantage. This Bill is not by any means a major step in retreat from that, but it is just one more nail in the coffin of free access and the welcoming of strangers and foreigners. So on historical grounds it is a sad Bill.
So far as the Commonwealth is concerned, the noble Lord, Lord Auckland, quite rightly reminded us of that, and, in a somewhat different way, in his remarkable speech so did the noble Lord, Lord Kadoorie; and the noble Lord, Lord Tanlaw, mentioned the case of Malaysia. We are, after all, the home of the head of the Commonwealth; we are the originator of the Commonwealth, and whether we like it or not, we cannot divorce ourselves from a rather special position, not as leader in any formal sense, but as the country to which all other members of the Commonwealth look. This Bill is not going to strengthen the bonds of the Commonwealth, it is not going to strengthen our influence. Rather it will loosen them and diminish such influence as we have.
Thirdly, on purely pragmatic grounds, again, we have already heard from other speakers, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Elwyn-Jones, and my noble friend Lord Aylestone, of the effect that this is going to have, is already having, upon race relations in this country. I do not for a moment believe that it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government that it should have that effect. I do not believe that the noble Lord, Lord Belstead, or any of his colleagues in the Government are in any way opposed to our immigrant population. I believe that they wish to do all they can to help to integrate them into our society.
But this is something that has been with us now for over 20 years- we have been aware of the problems. It has been necessary—and I believe it was necessary and right to do so-to put some restriction on immi- gration, as much in the interest of the immigrants as in that of ourselves, the natives. We have made progress, thanks very largely to a great number of anonymous, unsung people, social workers, members of the police force, academics and others, and Members of your Lordships' House, too, who have worked to improve race relations. Progress has been made. But, alas, that progress is now in jeopardy. It is in jeopardy very largely because of the economic circumstances of this country, because of the enormous number of un- employed and the way this affects the immigrants, even second and third generation immigrants, more than those who consider themselves to be natives. So the tensions are higher, and this Bill cannot fail to exacer- bate those tensions and to make a difficult problem yet more difficult.
Fourthly, and very briefly, I come to justice. This is an unjust Bill. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Elwyn-Jones, pointed out some of the inequities that arise from it; ridiculous, ludicrous, as we sit here and
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