The British Government's scheme will give 50,000 of these key people the assurance which they want without any need for them to live in Britain before they qualify for our citizenship. We are also asking our allies in Europe and elsewhere in the world to consider similar schemes which could help sustain confidence in Hong Kong.
It is of course theoretically possible that every one of the 50,000 families who benefit from our scheme will decide to come and live in Britain. We think this extremely unlikely, given their strong cultural, personal and professional ties with Hong Kong. But even if they did all come here, they would certainly not be a burden to this country. They would be some of the most enterprising and talented people from one of the most successful economies seen this century, who could start immediately to make a contribution.
Arrangements are being made for all applications under the scheme to be processed by 30 June 1997 when the scheme will end. The Government's scheme will be strictly limited in numbers, scope and duration. The legislation will be ring fenced to ensure that it cannot be used as a vehicle to bring about wider changes in the Government's immigration policy.
If we had offered no assurances on nationality, we would certainly have damaged this country's economic interests. We should also have made more likely a major challenge to our policy of restricting immigration. If confidence within Hong Kong were to collapse completely, then we could expect very large numbers of people to arrive at our airports seeking admission as refugees. The numbers involved might make the 50,000 families included in the Government's scheme look small.
Faced with such a situation, the British Government would naturally try to coordinate an international response to the problem, but we can be certain that other countries would expect us, as the former colonial power, to accept the lion's share. It would be far preferable to avoid such an outcome by doing everything in our power to maintain the prosperity and confidence of Hong Kong during the remaining years of British administration.
Your constituent also raised the issue of Hong Kong and the ivory trade and the Government's decision to allow Hong Kong a further six months to trade its stocks of legally-acquired ivory.
Both the British Government and Hong Kong are fully
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