HC Deb 19 December 1966 vol 738 cc990-1
22. Mr. Winnick

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will review the present arrangements for East German citizens to obtain visas to enter Great Britain as visitors.

Mr. George Brown

Visa regulations are of course a matter for my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary. The rules governing the issue of temporary travel documents for East Germans are regularly reviewed in the North Atlantic Council.

Mr. Winnick

Would not my right hon. Friend agree that there is now a case for reviewing the arrangements whereby East German citizens have to come over to the western part of Britain? Is he aware that people like myself, who hate the Berlin Wall and have told East German Communists so, believe that there is a case for reviewing the present arrangements?

Mr. Brown

As I said, the arrangements are regularly reviewed. I think it is time that the East Germans also reviewed some of the restrictions which they put on the West.