HC Deb 22 July 1976 vol 915 cc1997-8
15. Mr. Lane

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Government will publish their comments on the 1974–75 report of the Select Committee on Race Relations and Immigration, "The Organisation of Race Relations Administration".

Mr. Roy Jenkins

The Government have given a good deal of consideration to the Select Committee's valuable and wide-ranging report, and we are planning to publish a full reply as soon as possible.

Mr. Lane

As some of the Select Committee's recommendations were about resources, and in view of recent reports in some Sunday newspapers, will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that the Government are about to announce a new programme of aid to inner city areas?

Mr. Jenkins

The Government are well aware that aside from the general need, which I think the House knows I fully support, for stringency in public expenditure, there is a special problem in inner city areas. I hope that we shall be able to consider it constructively even in the present climate. As the House will be aware, the Race Relations Bill Standing Committee imposed a general duty on local authorities against the advice of the Government. However, having considered the matter I should have no wish to resist that course, and that duty will stand.

Mr. Dykes

Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that one of his best acts in this area before going to the presidency of the European Commission would be to provide reassurance that there will be an improvement in genuinely good race relations by tightening the restrictions on new entrants?

Mr. Jenkins

I do not believe that that question can be usefully answered strung on to a Question about urban deprivation and the recommendations and report of the Select Committee. I have said firmly and clearly—this remains my view—that effective control of immigration is essential to good race relations. Exactly where we operate that frontier, bearing in my mind our commitment, which we intend to preserve, and certain considerations bearing on family unity as well as United Kingdom passport holders, is a matter that we debated at length in the House. It would be a mistake to think that I could advance the argument in the course of a short answer to the hon. Gentleman's question.