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our seats". The idea of "passports to stay" was very difficult to get across to the man in the street. Dame Jill shared Mr Channon's doubts about the effectiveness of the Assurances Scheme.
to stop those people (the majority surely of any professional category) leaving the territory anyway. The Scheme would not stop the drain of talent from Hong Kong but it would stir up a nest of problems in Britain. She was becoming increasingly irritated by some of the lobbying tactics of Hong Kong people. People in Hong Kong had purchased mailing lists. Some of her constituents had received a direct mailshot from Hong Kong urging them to write to their Member of Parliament to demand greater generosity in the Assurances package. Her constituents' reaction had been the opposite of that intended by the Hong Kong lobbyists. Dame Jill was fed up by the way in which people in Hong Kong assumed that Britain had some special and overriding responsibility for them. People in Hong Kong had done very well for themselves and had made lots of money there.
They had always known that the territory was due to return to China in 1997.
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My guess is that Mr Channon will reluctantly vote with the Government more out of loyalty to the Prime Minister and the need to show solidarity in difficult political circumstances than from conviction. Mr Speed kept his own counsel. I think that Dame Jill will vote against the Bill.
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David Lidington Special Adviser
CONFIDENTIAL
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