§ 35. Mr. Pearsonasked the Home Secretary whether he is prepared to receive, at the present time. applications for British naturalisation from refugees now resident in this country even though no decisions upon such applications are intended to be taken until the end of the war; and, if so, will priority of consideration be given according to the order of the applications being received?
§ Mr. H. MorrisonI cannot prevent people from sending me applications, but to invite them to send applications which cannot at present be considered would not be a justifiable course. To undertake that after the war applications will be dealt with in the order in which they have been received would be unfair to those who have considerately refrained from troubling the Home Office during the war with applications which cannot at present be taken up and would be an invitation to all potential applicants to add to the work of my Department by sending in their applications as early as possible.
Miss RathboneCould not some assurance he given to aliens who are serving in the Armed Forces and yet are quite uncertain as to whether, after the war is over, they will not be bundled out of this country? If they are good enough to serve in the British or Allied Forces, are they not good enough for naturalisation?
§ Mr. MorrisonI would not accept that. I think it would be most unwise that such a sweeping commitment should be entered into. The question of naturalisation must be kept open to be settled on its merits in due course.