§ 3.40 p.m.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, with, permission, I will now answer the Private Notice Question put by the noble Lord, Lord Byers. My light honourable friend's undertaking applied to United Kingdom passport holders expelled from East Africa, and it has been fully honoured. Miss Vaid was under no immediate pressure to leave Kenya, and I understand that the authorities there were prepared to issue her with a dependant's pass authorising her continued stay while awaiting the issue of a special voucher from our High Commission. Nevertheless, she came here without the proper documents and had to be refused admission. My right honourable friend 831 the Home Secretary has this morning agreed that, exceptionally, she should be allowed to enter this country for a short period of three months to give her time to regularise her affairs.
§ LORD BYERSMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for that reply and to the Government for showing compassion and sympathy, and, if I may say so, for breaking up this horrifying game of human shuttlecock which has been going on for the last few days. The House will be deeply indebted to the Government for the action they have taken. May I ask the Minister to look at the general situation which the policies of the Kenyan, Ugandan and Her Majesty's Government are creating at the present time? This is a serious social problem and one which will get worse unless something is done about it. Is the noble Lord aware of what is happening? The overseas Government refuses permission to work; the British Government refuse permission to enter the United Kingdom; and the Asian is left to live on his or her resources until only the air fare remains. Can anyone blame these people at that stage for wanting to get out while the going is good? May I ask the Government to look at this matter again, from the angle of putting more flexibility into the rules; for example, using the quota not taken up on the Commonwealth immigrants' quota and applying it more flexibly in the case of these United Kingdom citizens?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I am grateful for the noble Lord's opening words. Of course, we all felt sorry and were immediately moved by the picture of a girl being "shuttlecocked", as the noble Lord has said, from one continent to another. But she deliberately chose to put herself in that position. There was absolutely no reason why she should have started off on this adventure. So far as the situation with work permits is concerned, I must say, with respect, that I think the noble Lord has exaggerated the situation. I was interested to note, while endeavouring to look into this matter, that of the 300 work permits allocated to Kenya which were available in the past year only nine have been taken up.
§ LORD BYERSMy Lords, may I put to the noble Lord this other point about the social problem? I do not know whether or not Miss Vaid has resources; but one can envisage a situation in which a girl of 21 has very poor resources in the country yet is not allowed to work. What is she going to do to earn a living?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, there is a problem, of course; but the point is that we do not have to exaggerate here. She would not have qualified for a work voucher, but she could have got a dependant's pass; she chose not to apply for it.
§ LORD BYERSMy Lords, what happens to girls who do not qualify as dependants? This is a social problem.
§ LORD BESWICKYes, my Lords, it is a social problem, and this aspect of the matter is being looked at. I beg the noble Lord not to exaggerate the situation which, so far as I can see, is really not as serious as he makes out.
§ LORD BROOKE OF CUMNORMy Lords, these matters are very difficult and delicate. Is the noble Lord aware that my noble friends and I should feel bound to support the Home Secretary in refusing admission to somebody who arrived here without the proper documents? If they were admitted, it would be grossly unfair to others who might have come but who knew they were not entitled to do so. But could the noble Lord explain what is likely to happen if, at the end of three months, this girl has not "regularised her affairs"?—whatever that phrase may mean.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, again I am obliged to the noble Lord for what he said at the beginning of his supplementary question. The essence of this case is that this girl was a queue-jumper —that is the simple statement of fact; and the queue, in an orderly fashion, is being dealt with. Some 1,500 people a year are moving out—and she chose not to take her turn in that queue. As for the situation at the end of three months, that will be a matter for my right honourable friend to look at in the light of the circumstances of the time.
§ LORD BROCKWAYMy Lords, is my noble friend aware that many of us deeply 833 appreciate the action—which is characteristic—that has been taken in this case? Is he aware that I take up a number of these cases and that I always find the attitude of the Home Office sympathetic towards them? May I ask him to give consideration to this point? This girl is 21; and my noble friend said that she had deliberately avoided her obligations. But is he aware that in many of these cases, particularly where young people are concerned, they are confused as to what their obligations are and that this may (I do not know the facts) have been the case in this matter? May I further ask whether my noble friend is aware that we must not be too denunciatory of either Kenya or Uganda in this matter?
§ A NOBLE LORE: Why?
§ LORD BROCKWAYIs he aware that when Independence was granted to Kenya both the present Prime Minister of India and myself urged the Indian population there—and thousands were present—to become Kenyan citizens; and that the difficulty in Kenya and Uganda is due to the fact that there is a grave employment problem there and these large Indian populations are rot Kenyan or Ugandan citizens? May I ask this last question in a constructive way? Is it not clear that we must do something to clarify this confusing situation? It is not only Miss Vaid who is concerned: there are three stranded in Zurich; three others stranded in Paris, stateless, and 17 others detained in this country. Would it not be desirable that there should be further discussions between our Government, the Kenya Government and the Indian Government to try to resolve this difficulty?
§ THE EARL OF SWINTONMy Lords—
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, may I first answer the question which has been put to me by my noble friend. My noble friend asks: ought we not to have discussions with the Indian Government? The fact is that we already have an agreement with the Indian Government, the Anglo-Indian Agreement. Under that Agreement this girl, who was born in India and who has, I understand, two married sisters in India, could have gone to India. She chose not to go there. As for the other people to whom my 834 noble friend refers, most of them, I gather, are young people. There is a special problem here, largely arising from the fact that the younger people are more prepared to take the risk of jumping the queue than are some of the older ones.
§ THE EARL OF SWINTONMy Lords, the point that I wish to put to the Minister is this. I hope he will accept that there would be very general support for the Government— in most quarters of the House, I think—if no undue preference were given to anybody who tries to jump the gun.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I am much obliged for what the noble Earl has said.