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MEMORANDUM ON THE BILL

1. The Bill makes it possible to prohibit the entry into the United Kingdom of any British subject not belonging to the United Kingdom or any citizen of the Irish Republic, subject to certain exceptions. For the purpose of the Bill a British subject would be regarded as belonging to the United Kingdom if he was born there or if he is the holder of a United Kingdom, Channel Islands or Isle of Man passport. It is further provided (Clause 1 (2) (b)) that a British subject or citizen of the Republic of Ireland ordinarily resident within Great Britain or Ireland or the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man shall not be liable to control when travelling to the United Kingdom from anywhere else in that area. The effect of this is to take outside the scope of the restrictions citizens of the Irish Republic ordinarily resident in the Republic when travelling to this country. A citizen of the Republic coming here from Australia would be liable to control in the same way as a citizen of Australia.

2. It would thus not be necessary to set up an immigration control on the ordinary traffic between Great Britain and Ireland, but a control could be put on at any time if it appeared necessary to prevent British subjects from overseas attempting to come here by way of Ireland.

3. It is provided that entry could not be refused to anyone within the scope of the control if he satisfied the authorities that he was coming only for a temporary visit, or to take up authorised employment, or that he was in a position to support himself and his dependants in the United Kingdom without taking employment, provided that even if these requirements were satisfied he could still be excluded if he had been convicted of crime and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than twelve months, or his entry would be undesirable for medical reasons, or he was a person likely to act to the prejudice of national security or public order, or to promote industrial unrest.

4. In view of the housing difficulties caused by unrestricted immigration provision has been made in clause 1 (3) (b) for entry to be refused to any person, other than a temporary visitor, who fails to satisfy the Immigration Officer that satisfactory housing is available for himself and his dependents, if any. It would probably be impracticable to devise a completely effective housing control, but it is thought that considerable assistance could be given to housing authorities by requiring immigrants to obtain from a housing authority, in advance of their arrival in the United Kingdom, a certificate that satisfactory housing accommodation is available and any Bill giving power to restrict immigration should not omit some provision for making it possible to attempt to deal with this aspect of the problem which is in some ways the most serious at the present time.

5. It can be argued that once the principle of control is accepted it would be better not to specify in too much detail the classes of persons who should be allowed to enter the United Kingdom as of right, although not belonging to it. The stereotyping of classes in an immigration statute is always liable to cause difficulty, since circumstances arise in which the provisions of the statute are embarrassing. It has nevertheless been thought that it would be likely to make the measure more acceptable if some indication of the scope of the restrictions to be enforced were incorporated in it. It should be added that a distinction has been preserved between British subjects from overseas and aliens in that all aliens are required by law to obtain leave to land in the United Kingdom while under this measure no British subject would require leave to land, though certain British subjects would be liable to be prohibited from landing.

6. The criterion for determining whether a British subject should be regarded as belonging to the United Kingdom for this purpose is based on birth in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, or the possession of a valid passport issued by the Government in those territories, because this is a criterion which can readily be applied by Immigration Officers at the port of entry. The place of birth of the holder of a British passport is always stated in the passport. Any more elaborate criterion conferring a right of exemption from liability to control related to, for example, residence or domicile would be likely to create such difficulties at ports as would result in unreasonable delays to the

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