HC Deb 14 June 1976 vol 913 cc28-30
Mr. Eyre

I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 9, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely, the effect of the Government's limitation on local authority expenditure programmes as set out in the speech of the Secretary of State for the Environment yesterday, the effect upon the problems in the immigrant reception areas and the consequent effect upon Government immigration policies". In addition to a limited number of London boroughs, the main areas of immigrant settlement in this country are in the inner crowded areas of industrial towns and cities in the West and East Midlands, Yorkshire and Lancashire. The Home Secretary's speech of 24th May set out Government policy on immigration and made clear that about 60,000 immigrants will be admitted to Britain during the next 12 months and that about this number of immigrants will be admitted in each of the following two years. It is clear that nearly every one of those immigrants will settle permanently in these already established and crowded immigrant reception areas. In the same speech, the Home Secretary also declared that no more resources would be made available to local authorities bearing these responsibilities.

As one example of the problem of these areas affected by the Government's statement, it should be borne in mind that Birmingham is now receiving more than 1,200 new immigrant schoolchildren every year. This is evidence of only part of the extra immigrant demand upon the resources of the city for education, housing and social services. Good race relations in these immigrant reception areas—

Mr. Faulds

How will you stop it?

Mr. Eyre

—require confidence on the part of all the people living there that decent conditions will be established and maintained. This will need a lot of work and money. [Interruption.] Fears of growing unemployment, especially among the young, must be sensitively taken into account in these industrial areas. Recent events, the Hawley Report and the latest round of Government cuts create an entirely new situation. [Interruption.] Confidence in the future and in the country's ability to succeed in overcoming these problems is being questioned. This is one of the causes of fresh tension. [Interruption.] This—

Mr. Speaker

Order. I wish that hon. Members would be quiet. I ask the hon. Member to explain his reasons for urgency.

Mr. Eyre

The anxieties I have mentioned are shared by responsible elements in all the families living in these crowded immigrant reception areas. A debate is urgently needed because, following the Secretary of State's speech yesterday, the Government should at once begin a process of urgent consultation with local authorities in the major immigrant reception areas to identify the range of stress in housing, education and basic essential services. The local people in each area, including, of course, all immigrant communities, should be consulted with regard to these problems and the resources required for successfully coping with them.

It is clear that today the Government face a stark choice. They must either properly determine and make available sufficient resources to match the growth in the immigrant reception areas—

Mr. Speaker

Order. This is not an opportunity for making a speech on the subject. The hon. Gentleman should make out his case for urgency.

Mr. Eyre

Finally, the Government must either provide resources or drastically review their immigration policies.

Mr. Faulds

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I must ask you whether it is not a gross abuse of the procedures of the House to pursue a blinkered, blind prejudice to try to make the racial situation in this country even more difficult than hon. Members like the hon. Member for Birmingham, Hall Green (Mr. Eyre) have already done.

Mr. Speaker

The hon. Member gave me notice that he wished to raise this matter. I shall now give my ruling.

The hon. Member seeks leave to move the Adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely, The effect of the Government's limitation on local authority expenditure programmes in the immigrant reception areas and the consequent effect upon Government immigration policies. As the House knows, under Standing Order No. 9 I am instructed to take into account the several factors set out in the Standing Order but to give no reasons for my decision. I have given careful consideration to the representations that the hon. Member has made, but I have to rule that his submission does not fall within the provisions of the Standing Order and, therefore, I cannot submit his application to the House.