A deserved defeat
It is repugnant to the great majority of people in this country that, as a direct consequence of the Government's European policy, it will become easier for Germans, Italians, Frenchmen, Belgians, Dutchmen and Luxembourgers to enter this country than Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians. No amount of Parliamentary legislation, nor treaties nor ceremonies nor speeches, will ever make our continental neighbours other than foreign, and our distant old dominions other than familial. Because of a legal and moral imperial obligation, we have, rightly, admitted the Ugandan Asians; and it is both to be expected and to be hoped that, should we be asked to meet any further such obligations which we have not previously disclaimed, we again do so without equivocation and as a matter of plain duty. There is, however, no doubt that the public has no desire whatsoever to see further Asian, African or West Indian immigration. The public has a legitimate anxiety that such immigration may create ghettoes in the cities and may, in certain areas, threaten existing standards in education, housing, employment and welfare. European immigration is unlikely to create such conditions or give rise to such anxieties. For the time being, moreover, there is likely to be little of it. But the present problem brought about by our obligations to the African Asians arises from carelessness when the former African colonies were given their independence; and we would do well, in considering current legislation, to look ahead to an enlarged European Economic Community under the rules of which Greeks, Turks, Spaniards, Portuguese and so forth might be entitled to unrestricted entry. Generally speaking, the flow of immigrants is a flow of poor people looking for a better life; and when a country is well populated, the only advantage it gains from immigration is cheap labour, if that is in fact an advantage. Even if it were the case that this country would benefit from increased immigration, it is surely socially and democratically incontrovertible that preference in entering the country should be given to those whom the public regards as its kith and kin rather than to those whom it regards as foreign, alien, strange. There should be no need to apologise for the existence of natural affinities; and the Government's policy on immigration should express such affinities, and not seek to deny them.
The Government thoroughly deserved to be defeated in Wednesday's division on the new immigration rules. When Mr Robert Carr argues that it is not that citizens of the old Commonwealth are losing existing privileges but that the citizens of the Common Market countries are gaining new privileges he is being disingenuous. The Government concedes that Commonwealth immigrants, black or white, will be admitted to Britain to work only if there are neither British nor Common Market workers available for the jobs they Want. As far as working in this country is concerned, it is Government policy to make Commonwealth citizens inferior to European ones. They are to become, on January 1, second class immigrants, against the clear wishes of the British public.
It is, therefore, salutary that the Government was defeated in the Commons on Wednesday night. The odd alliance of Labour Party, Liberals and the handful of Conservatives is a fugitive thing, put together for the occasion and then disappearing, but nevertheless it represented the nation's mind far more accurately than did the loyal henchmen who obeyed the whip of Mr Francis Pym and supported the policy of Mr Heath and Mr Carr. Sooner or later, surely, this Government must endeavour to hear, and to heed, the people.
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