Unwise amnesty
The cunning cowardice of such liberals as Mr Jenkins was never better demonstrated than in the Home Secretary's announcement of his decision to allow an amnesty for illegal immigrants on the day before Good Friday, Parliament having just risen and there being no national newspapers to dispute the merits of his action the following morning. The amnesty was an unwise action on several counts. It was unwise because, yet again, it demonstrated the possible retroactive success of defying the law. It was unwise because it allows an unknown number of immigrants to be absorbed — if, indeed, they are absorbed — Into British society without any possibility of their existence or patterns of life being recorded, either by the police or by the bepartment of Employment. And it was unwise because the numbers involved, though unknown, are certain to be high. True, the Runnymede Trust has argued that the numbers are insignificant but, since the days, of Mr Dipak Nandy, the Trust has never been very reliable on arithmetical matters, consistently and grossly underestimating the intake of new Commonwealth immigrants over many Years. And, besides, these newly legalised Illegal immigrants are to be allowed to bring over their dependants probably to the number of twenty or thirty thousand, and perhaps even more. With one silly action Mr Jenkins has undone much of the wise and useful work of the last Conservative government in the field of immigration; and he has further helped, in his unknowing and ignorant, wellmeaning way, in the deterioration of community relations in this country.
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