HC Deb 13 November 1945 vol 415 cc1922-7
Miss Bacon

(by Private Notice) asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is now in a posi- tion to make a statement about the admission to this country of distressed persons on the Continent who have relatives here able and willing to look after them.

The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Ede)

Yes, Sir. It is the desire of His Majesty's Government that our contribution towards the alleviation of distress in Europe shall be the maximum which the resources of this country permit. With this object the Government has considered which of the classes of distressed persons among the countless cases calling for sympathy have special claims to join relatives in the United Kingdom and to receive protection and help; and they have authorised a scheme of admission to this country for the purposes of enabling husbands, wives and dependent children to be reunited, of enabling young people who have no-one to give them a guardian's care to receive such care from relatives (whether near or distant relatives) in this country, and of enabling elderly people who are in special need of filial care to find shelter in the homes of children or grandchildren in the United Kingdom.

In pursuance of this scheme instructions will be sent to Passport Control Officers that when a person in distressed circumstances on the Continent has an offer from a relative in the United Kingdom of maintenance and accommodation in his home a visa may be granted (subject to considerations of public health and character) if the applicant falls into one of the following categories:

  1. (1) the wife of a man who is in the United Kingdom and any of his children under 21. If the result of bringing the wife and any children under 21 to the United Kingdom would be to leave alone and in distressed circumstances one daughter over 21 who is unmarried or widowed and without children, she also may be allowed to come;
  2. (2) the husband of a woman who is in the United Kingdom, if he is in capacitated, infirm or too old to support his wife abroad;
  3. (3) females under 21 with their children, if any, and males under 18, who have no relatives to look after them abroad but have a relative in the United Kingdom able and willing to take them into his household;
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  4. (4) the mother or grandmother of a person in the United Kingdom if she is widowed and in need of filial care;
  5. (5) the father or grandfather of a person in the United Kingdom if widowed and in need of special care owing to age or infirmity.
  6. (6) Where both man and wife are living together abroad, such couples may be admitted if because of age or infirmity, or other special circumstances, they are unable to look after and support one another, and are offered hospitality by a child or grand child in this country.
All admissions to the United Kingdom under this scheme will be subject to time limits, which will be reviewed periodically in the light of circumstances obtaining at future dates.

It will be right that many of the younger people shall engage in occupations in which there is a special need of workers such, for example, as agricultural work, and it will be a condition that persons admitted under the scheme shall take such employment only as is approved by the Minister of Labour. Persons in this country wishing to invite a relative who falls into one of these categories should write, not to the Home Office, but to the relative on the Continent a letter showing that maintenance and accommodation is available and should advise the recipient to show the letter to the Passport Control Officer at the British Embassy in the country in which the relative is at present. As regards Germany and Austria where there is no British Embassy, special arrangements for dealing with applications from persons in those countries will be worked out as soon as possible. If some people may be disappointed that the scheme does not cover their relatives or friends, it must be recognised that no scheme of this kind is workable unless it operates within clearly denned limits, and a flood of letters to the Home Office about persons who do not fall within the prescribed categories will merely impede the official machine.

It is not possible to give a numerical estimate of the persons likely to be admitted under this scheme and its operation will be carefully watched. The difficulties are obvious which would be caused by large-scale additions to our foreign population at the present time when there is a shortage of housing and of supplies of many kinds, and when we are struggling to repair the losses and dislocations of a five-year war to which we have sacrificed our resources without stint; but it will, I think, be the general desire of the British people that, despite these difficulties and within the limits imposed by them, the utmost should be done to maintain this country's historic tradition of affording asylum to the distressed. It is to be hoped that other countries will share the task with this straitened island and will, in proportion to their resources, give opportunities of refuge in their territories to many of these victims of oppression.

Mr. Osbert Peake

Whilst welcoming the statement of the right hon. Gentleman, may I ask him two questions? The first is whether, in every case, guarantees of maintenance will be required before the visa is granted; secondly, whether he is devising machinery to ensure that guarantees of maintenance are in fact genuine, and will be carried out?

Mr. Ede

The answer to both supplementary questions is in the affirmative.

Mr. Sydney Silverman

May I ask my right hon. Friend what facilities for transport will be placed at the disposal of such persons as are allowed, under the scheme, to enter this country?

Mr. Ede

Transport is, as I have told the House on previous occasions, a considerable difficulty. Persons will be expected to make their own arrangements for transport, but any influence that I can bring to bear to assist genuine cases in coming here under the scheme will be used.

Mr. Silverman

But will the right hon. Gentleman remember that a great many of the people who will benefit by this scheme are survivors of concentration camps, who are still resident there, and they could not possibly have any voice in obtaining transport for themselves?

Mr. Ede

I had hoped that the answer I gave to the supplementary question was reasonably sympathetic. I desire, and the Government desire, that this scheme shall work. These matters of detail will have to be met from time to time, and we will make every endeavour to meet the exigencies of the situation.

Sir Ralph Glyn

The right hon. Gentleman mentioned the passport officers. Since many of the applicants for this relief will be aliens, will they be allowed to use a special passport, or will it have to be a British passport?

Mr. Ede

I think they will have to come on a British passport. May I appeal to the House that on these matters of detail, they should read my long and detailed statement in the Official Report in the morning? If, on any of these matters of detail, they desire further enlightenment, I shall be very willing either to answer a Question on the Paper, or to meet them and discuss the matter.

Major Cecil Poole

May I ask the Minister whether this scheme has been agreed with the U.S.S.R.; and will it be applicable to persons who are resident in the zones under the control of the Soviet authorities?

Mr. Ede

I could not answer the first part of that supplementary question in the affirmative, but it is applicable to people who come within the categories which I named, no matter where they may reside, provided that they are persons distressed as the result of the war.

Mr. Vernon Bartlett

Could my right hon. Friend have a considerable number of copies of his statement printed for the benefit of hon. Members so that we could sent them off in letters?

Mr. Ede

I will consider the suggestion that has been made, and endeavour to meet it.

Flight-Lieutenant Teeling

May I ask a question about one group which the right hon. Gentleman has not mentioned? There are numbers of people who helped us tremendously in the underground movement abroad and who have no relations here and many of us would like, if we could, to have them over here at our expense. Those people are in great distress at the moment, and if they could be "O.K'd" by our embassies and legations, would it be possible to include them?

Mr. Ede

This is a first step that I have announced. I have been frank with the House and have told them that I do not know the numbers in which I shall be involved here. I ask the House to allow this scheme to work and, if it is possible to extend it, it will be extended. It may be that the requests will be so numerous that we may even have to contract the scheme, or delay its application. Therefore, I am not able to give the hon. and gallant Gentleman the assurance he would like with regard to that particular category of persons.