HC Deb 10 March 1949 vol 462 cc1384-5
40. Mr. Niall Macpherson

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department through what channels application should be made to him for permission for permanent residence in this country on behalf of Mr. Emilio Rossi, restaurant proprietor, of Kirkconnel, Dumfriesshire, who lived in Kirkconnel from 1909 until internment in 1940 and subsequent repatriation to Italy on medical advice and now wishes to return to his home and business.

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

The hon. Member has written to the Home Office on several occasions about this case, and I know of no channel of communication more appropriate than a direct approach. I have considered the applications made on behalf of Mr. Rossi, but I regret that I cannot agree that Mr. Rossi, who in 1943 on medical grounds voluntarily returned to his country of origin which was then at war with this country, should come back to reside in this country.

Mr. Macpherson

Is it quite fair to describe as a voluntary decision one taken by a man who was ill at the time, who did not expect to recover, whose brothers live in this country and whose children are here?

Mr. Ede

The hon. Gentleman should state the case fully or not at all. This man arranged for his wife to go to Italy on two occasions when she was expecting a child so that the children could be born on Italian soil. There is other evidence that this man has always regarded himself as primarily an Italian, and I do not think that, inasmuch as he decided to go to Italy at a time when he might have imagined that Italy was on the winning side in the war, I should now re-admit him to this country.

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