TNAG-2189-FCO40-3126-Hong-Kong-nationality-package-1990 — Page 157

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16 December 1989

The Prime Minister

10 Downing Street London

SW1

Court Lodge Groombridge Kent TN3 9PS

Dear Prime Minister

I have never written to you before and have supported and worked for the Conservative Party all my life, but I am moved now to write to you to express my horror at your plan to give right of abode in Britain to people from Hong Kong.

M

I have watched this story unfold with increasing amazement surely we owe these people nothing. They have led a far better life in Hong Kong thanks to us than they would have done in China, and it is a fact of life that this is now coming to an end. It is not our fault or of our seeking. We share no ties of race, culture or creed with them and the days of paternalism are long since gone.

I would imagine that most ordinary British people would share my feelings and that this issue will cost the Conservative Party the next general election. All our lives are affected badly by over-population of this island and yet you are proposing to make it far worse, against the wishes of most of its inhabitants.

Please think again.

Yours sincerely

Meriel Packman (Mrs)

copy to Sir Patrick Mayhew QC MP