TNAG-2198-FCO40-3152-Hong-Kong-nationality-spouses-and-widows-of-British-expatria-1990 — Page 25

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British Nationality (Hong Kong) Bill

Vol.521

[23 JULY 1990]

We made it clear at the outset that both we and the Governor of Hong Kong would listen to views on the selection scheme. Your Lordships have provided some very helpful advice. The structure of the scheme remains unchanged. We envisage that some 36,200 of the 50.000 places will be issued under the general allocation section on the basis of a points system, places being divided between different groups of people based on their occupations and according to a formula which will reflect the rates of emigration of those groups. Another 7,000 places will be allocated to the disciplined services, again on points. Smaller allocations will be available for the sensitive services and for key entrepreneurs.

If, as I hope, the Bill is granted Royal Assent, both we and the Hong Kong Government will want to think carefully about the various comments and suggestions which have been made before coming forward with our proposals in their final shape. However, I think it only fair to say that we have heard little to date to make us doubt that the scheme is along the right lines in its essentials. To benefit Hong Kong | it must select applicants on the basis of their value to Hong Kong's economy and stability. Our proposals provide a means of achieving this with maximum fairness and objectivity and minimum scope for bias.

The scheme is not designed just to cater for a wealthy and influential elite. It will provide places for people from all kinds of different walks of life and levels of income. The occupations and services which are covered will range from nurses and teachers to businessmen and administrators. We all recognise that, in the long run, the future of Hong Kong will depend upon China. The Government believe that the Joint Declaration and the unusual but imaginative Chinese concept of two systems within one country provide the framework for Hong Kong's continued stability and prosperity.

However, our concern today is not so much with the distant future but with the transitional period which lies ahead-and in particular with the urgent need to stem the drift or outflow of skills and talents from the territory. That is the issue which this Bill seeks to address. Providing encouragement for key people to stay will, I hope, benefit not just them, but all the people of the territory. I am grateful to noble Lords for the kind and courteous way in which they have considered in detail all the matters regarding the Bill. I commend it to your Lordships. I beg to move.

Moved, That the Bill do now pass. - (Earl Ferrers.)

5.5 p.m.

Baroness Ewart-Biggs: My Lords, it has been a great privilege to take part in the debate which has included contributions from those who have played a vital role in the life of Hong Kong. This includes in particular the noble Lords, Lord Kadoorie and Lord MacLehose. What they have said during the passage of the Bill has been of great help to those of us who, in all honesty, have found it difficult to put forward firm and unequivocal views. The reason for that was given by the Minister: the question marks which hang

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over the future of Hong Kong about who China's leaders will be in 1997, as well as what they will do in the interim.

We are grateful for the clear presentation of the Bill right from the start by the noble Earl. Lord Ferrers. and for the way in which he has responded to the amendments put forward in good faith by all sides of the House. He gave the reasons he wanted the Bill and explained that he wished the Bill to take its place on the statute book with the minimum of delay. We from these Benches have accepted both the expediency factor that the Minister put forward as well as the urgency.

However, it must be said that although we have accepted the Bill, we have not accepted—indeed we have opposed-the points system. We feel that it includes neither justice nor fairness. It is not a system that we could ever appiaud. That is why we have not opposed the Bill but have tried to put forward ideas which would create a better structure for the scheme and have removed certain anxieties and injustices. I am grateful to the Minister for confirming today his response to the points that we put about the widowed spouses of British citizens as well as the future of spouses of British citizens who will be registered in Hong Kong. This will make them eligible to settle in the United Kingdom.

We accept the urgency of the Bill. We said during its passage that it was a pity that the Government did not put forward a Bill much earlier. However, we understand that there were certain divisions within the Conservative Party as to the kind of Bill it should be. We can only regret that the Bill came so late and therefore had to be hurried through at great speed.

We hope that the Bill will fulfil the Government's aim of providing stability and confidence in the colony. By a strange and remarkable coincidence, in the newspaper the Guardian this morning there was a report on Hong Kong. I do not know whether the Minister saw it. The report threw a much more positive light on the future than the usual view. For instance, it made the point that last year-the year of the massacre of the pro democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square deposits grew by i9 per cent. in Hong Kong. That can only mean that there is still confidence there. The report gave specific figures for those who were leaving, and also for those returning. It showed that one-fifth of emigrants have already returned but, on the other hand, those who were leaving were the people that Hong Kong needed. For that reason, the Minister has convinced us that some insurance policy is necessary to try to persuade those people to stay in Hong Kong. We see the Bill in that way, but not as a fair way of introducing a points system.

However, we sincerely wish the Hong Kong people the best future. Those of us who have visited Hong Kong will remember the great hospitality and courage of the people who live and work there. We would hate to think that their future was in any way overshadowed.