§ 2.34 p.m.
§ Earl Winterton (Horsham)I wish to deal with a subject which, I am sure, the House will be glad to know, after the turmoil of the previous Debate, should raise no controversies within the House itself. I am sure that I have the sympathy of the House when I say that at any moment, for reasons which I cannot explain, the proceedings are liable to be interrupted, and as this is a serious subject, I am concerned not to get to the gist of my speech before then. I am sure that the Leader of the House will be glad to know that I am raising what I think is a non-controversial subject, and I shall display none of those maniacal tendencies which he feared could be attributed to me when he intervened in an earlier Debate. I think it is generally agreed that it is high time that we should discuss this matter. I can perhaps fill the time before the interruption to which I have referred by quoting to the House, before I come to the point which I wish to put to the Under-Secretary, some information which I have received, through the husbands of 2480 these ladies themselves, about this situation. I think it will interest the House.
I am informed that during and just after the war about 30 officers, other ranks and officials connected with various British Missions in Moscow, Murmansk and elsewhere, contracted marriages with Soviet girls. The first point I wish to make, which is an important one, is that the Soviet raised no objection to those marriages, put no objection in the way. They would have been perfectly entitled to have made representations to His Majesty's Government, and to have said, "We do not like your nationals, who are members either of your Missions or of your Armed Forces, marrying Soviet girls." No such objections were made, and these marriages are valid in Soviet law and are also valid in British law. The marriages were registered at Soviet marriage bureaux and they were also registered with His Majesty's Embassy in Moscow. I have the authority of one gentleman concerned to say that he was given a special visa by the Soviet authorities for the avowed purpose of going to marry his wife. That shows that the Soviet authorities put no impediment whatever in the way.
Of these 30 wives—it is important that the House should have those figures in mind for a reason which will be apparent in a moment—about 15 were granted permission to come to this country, the most recent permission having been granted as late as 1945. There are still 15 wives remaining in Russia, with their five children, and they have been told that they will never be allowed to join their husbands in this country. I understand, and the Under-Secretary will be able to correct me if I am wrong, that the legal position is that the wives and children are bi-national, that is to say they are British in British law and Soviet citizens by Soviet law. The point I wish to make, and with which any hon. Member of the House who is a lawyer, who has had legal experience would agree, is that it is by no means an unprecedented state of affairs. It has happened before in international law.
§ Mr. Pritt (Hammersmith, North)indicated assent.
§ Earl WintertonI am glad to see that the hon. and learned Member for North 2481 Hammersmith nods his head in assent. Never before, so far as I know, has any country placed the obstacles in the way of wives joining their husbands which the Soviet Government have done in the case of these wives. I must say frankly, tough politician that I am, that I am horrified by the information which has reached me about the position of these unfortunate——