669
[Mr. Tilley]
British Nationality Bill
26 OCTOBER 1981
motion is not passed, we will try to talk out the Bill and kill it. That is true. We have fought it for the last 10 months. We intend to fight it tonight and tomorrow in a last attempt to destroy it so that too much time will not be taken up in the first Session of the next Labour Government's terms of office in replacing it with a measure in which we can have pride.
Mr. Raison: By leave of the House, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I shall reply to the debate. This short debate has been more of a curtain raiser for tomorrow's debate than a fierce battle about whether there should be a guillotine motion. The only hon. Member who opposed the motion, and not with great ferocity, was the hon. and learned Member for Bradford, West (Mr. Lyons). The remainder of the opposition to the motion, such as it was, was purely ritual.
I thank the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Sparkbrook (Mr. Hattersley) for his honesty in saying that he understood the need for the motion. He made some rather sweeping comments, and questioned the need to proceed with the Bill. The Bill has been argued about for years, and the need for it has long been recognised. Rather than questioning that, he should have paid tribute to the Government's courage in introducing it and pushing it through to a successful conclusion.
The right hon. Gentleman asked for an assurance that there would be time to discuss amendment No. 61. As he knows, as a result of an agreement that will be the first amendment to be discussed following the break at 8 o'clock. That ensures that it will be debated. The Opposition's commitment to repeal the Bill should be seen in the light of the mocking tones of the right hon. Member for Down, South (Mr. Powell), who recalled what happened to Labour pledges about previous Immigration Acts.
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Today's debate has been a foretaste of tomorrow's debate. I understood that from time to time, Mr. Deputy Speaker, you had to curtail that. My hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge (Mr. Shersby) said that he would raise the important question of the relationship between Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands. My hon. Friend the Member for Orpington (Mr. Stanbrook) expressed his views about citizenship by descent, especially the nomenclature of the British territories citizenship. The hon. and learned Member for Bradford, West did not foreshadow tomorrow but complained that in another place the Government had accepted amendments that they would not accept in the House. There is something in what he said. However, it was not an unreasonable thing to do. After mature and prolonged discussion we were prepared to give way. I pay a warm tribute to the work of another place and the way in which it handled the Bill, and especially thank Lord Belstead for his tremendous patience and courtesy.
I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton, North (Mr. Marlow) for his kind words about me. I was intrigued by the notion expressed by the hon. Member for Lambeth, Central (Mr. Tilley) that we can buy 20 pence worth of leaflet outlining what will happen to the Bill under a Labour Government. I could not help feeling that he was talking with his tongue in his cheek. The idea that the Bill will be repealed by a Labour Government is pie in the sky, and he knows that. The
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quality of some of his remarks, especially about Statelessness, he must know to be nonsense. It is impossible that degrees of Statelessness will be created by the Bill. There may be some cases from time to time, but to suggest that it is a vehicle for creating Statelessness is rubbish.
I believe that the motion is essential. I think that the House accepts that. I ask the House to support the motion.
Question put:-
The House divided: Ayes 269, Noes 213. Division No. 312]
Adley, Robert Aitken,Jonathan Alexander, Richard Alison, RtHon Michael Amery, Rt Hon Julian Ancram, Michael Arnold, Tom'
Baker, Kenneth (St.M'bone) Baker, Nicholas (N Dorset) Banks, Robert Beaumont-Dark,Anthony Bell, SirRonald Bendall, Vivian
Benyon, Thomas(A'don) Benyon,W.(Buckingham) Berry, Hon Anthony Best, Keith
Bevan, David Gilroy Biffen, Rt HonJohn Biggs-Davison,SirJohn Blackburn,John Body, Richard
Bonsor,SirNicholas Bottomley, Peter (W'wichW) Bowden,Andrew Boyson, DrRhodes Braine,SirBernard Bright, Graham Brinton, Tim
Brittan; Rt. Hon.Leon
Brooke, Hon Peter Brotherton, Michael Brown, Michael (Brigg&Sc'n) Browne,John(Winchester) Bryan, Sir Paul Buck, Antony Budgen,Nick Bulmer, Esmond Burden, SirFrederick Butcher,John Cadbury,Jocelyn
Carlisle, John (Luton West) Carlisle,Kenneth (Lincoln) Carlisle, Rt Hon M. (R'c'n) Chalker, Mrs. Lynda Channon, Rt. Hon. Paul Chapman,Sydney Churchill, W.S.
Clark, Hon A. (Plym'th, S'n) Clark, Sir W. (Croydon S) Clarke,Kenneth (Rushcliffe) Clegg, Sir Walter Cockeram,Eric Colvin, Michael Cope,John
Cormack, Patrick Corrie,John Costain, SirAlbert Cranborne, Viscount Critchley, Julian Crouch, David
Dean, Paul (North Somerset) Dickens, Geoffrey Dorrell,Stephen Douglas-Hamilton,LordJ.
AYES
[11.14 pm
Dunn, Robert(Dartford) Durant, Tony
Eden, Rt Hon Sir John Eggar, Tim Elliott,SirWilliam Emery, Peter Eyre, Reginald
Fairgrieve, SirRussell Faith, Mrs Sheila Farr, John
Fenner, Mrs Peggy Finsberg, Geoffrey Fisher, Sir Nigel
Fletcher, A. (Ed'nb'ghN) Fletcher-Cooke, SirCharles Forman, Nigel
Fowler, RtHon Norman Fox,Marcus
Fraser, Peter (South Angus) Gardiner,George(Reigate) Gardner, Edward (SFylde) Garel-Jones,Tristan Gilmour, Rt Hon Sirlan Glyn, Dr Alan
Goodhart,SirPhilip:
Goodhew,Victor
Goodlad,Alastair
Gorst,John
Gow, lan
Gower, SirRaymond
Gray, Hamish
Griffiths, Peter Portsm'thN)
Grist, lan
Grylls, Michael
Gummer, JohnSelwyn
Hamilton, Hon A.
Hamilton, Michael(Salisbury)
Hampson, Dr Keith
Hannam,John
Haselhurst, Alan
Hastings,Stephen
Havers, Rt Hon Sir Michael
Hawkins, Paul
Hawksley, Warren
Hayhoe, Barney
Heath, Rt Hon Edward Heddle,John
Henderson, Barry Hicks, Robert
Higgins, Rt Hon Terence L. Hill, James
Hogg, HonDouglas (Grth'm) Holland,Philip(Carlton) Hooson, Tom
Hordern,Peter
Howe, Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey Howell, Rt Hon D. (G'ldf'd) Howell, Ralph (NNorfolk) . Hunt, David (Wirral) Hunt,John(Ravensbourne)
Irving,Charles (Cheltenham) Jenkin, Rt Hon Patrick Jessel, Toby
JohnsonSmith, Geoffrey Jopling, RtHon Michael
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