§ 2.37 p.m.
§ LORD CLIFFORD OF CHUDLEIGHMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government why Tariq Ali, a native of a foreign country and a self-confessed worker for the destruction of our system of government, was given a British passport: and what, if any Oath of Allegiance he was required to take.
THE MINISTER OF STATE, HOME OFFICE (VISCOUNT COLVILLE OF CULROSS)My Lords, Mr. Tariq Ali had an absolute right to registration as a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies because he was ordinarily resident here and free of conditions on January 1, 1973, when the Immigration Act 1971 came into force, and satisfied the conditions of Section 6(1) of the British Nationality Act 1948. He was accordingly registered earlier this year. Consequently, he became eligible to hold a United Kingdom passport. Mr. Tariq Ali took the Oath of Allegiance in the form prescribed by the British Nationality Act.
LORD CLIFFORD or CHUDLEIGHMy Lords, while thanking the noble Viscount for that reply, may I ask whether he is aware that the ordinary chap in this country is mystified by the seeming attitude of successive Governments in allowing foreigners, anti-British people, to come and settle here, while our own relations from the Commonwealth, even for a visit, have to fill in a somewhat insulting form? Further, is he aware that after every series of bomb explosions we hear on the news that the police have visited the homes of I.R.A. sympathisers. Why cannot they be returned to their own Republic? Will the Government consider, therefore, introducing identity cards to help the police in tracking down tax dodgers, terrorists and illegal immigrants?
VISCOUNT COLVILLE OF CULROSSMy Lords, that is a trio! In the first place, on the question of mystification I think the noble Lord must remember that at the time when Mr. Tariq Ali was 151 registered he was not a foreigner. He was a Commonwealth citizen, and Commonwealth citizens were, and still are, treated in what I hope is a fair way, whether they came from Pakistan at that time, or from Australia, or indeed, as the noble Lord knows, from Canada. The situation, of course, is that it is much less mysterious now, because the only people who are registered as of right are those in a transitional phase who have the necessary qualifications which allow them in under the 1971 Act as of right. Increasingly in future it will be a matter of discretion, and I think this will largely meet what the noble Lord has said.
The question of the I.R.A. people being returned to Ireland, and the other questions that the noble Lord asked me, are really matters that he might care to deal with specifically by putting down a Question on the Order Paper rather than dealing with them as supplementaries to this Question.
§ LORD KILMANYMy Lords, arising out of that reply, has my noble friend read on the front page of to-day's Scotsman a report that Tariq Ali was involved only last night in a rough-house at Edinburgh University, where he was among a crowd which broke the door of the Union and helped to smash up a meeting, and blows were struck? Is this really the kind of man we want to welcome to this country?
VISCOUNT COLVILLE OF CULROSSMy Lords, I am afraid I have not read the Scotsman to-day. If Mr. Tariq Ali, who is now a citizen of this country, has committed a criminal offence of any sort he, in exactly the same way as anybody else, would be liable to prosecution; as it is in Scotland, it would be by the police. The question as to whether or not he is the kind of person we like in this country is something that we can cope with now, but under the situation as it applied at that time we could not deal with it as a matter of discretion. We now have the discretion that we need.
§ LORD SEGALMy Lords, can the noble Viscount inform the House whether Mr. Tariq Ali also possesses a Pakistani passport, and whether he could be encouraged to make further use of it?
VISCOUNT COLVILLE OF CULROSSMy Lords, I do not know for what 152 purpose. He is certainly entitled to a Pakistani passport because the laws of Pakistan allow dual nationality.
§ BARONESS STOCKSMy Lords, can the noble Viscount tell us whether Mr. Tariq Ali is now a registered postgraduate student of any university and, if so, which?
VISCOUNT COLVILLE OF CULROSSMy Lords, I have looked at his nationality qualifications, but I am afraid not at his educational qualifications.
§ BARONESS LLEWELYN-DAVIES OF HASTOEMy Lords, since the noble Viscount did not deal with the third of the trio of supplementaries put by the noble Lord, Lord Clifford of Chudleigh, may I ask whether we can be quite sure that Her Majesty's Government are not contemplating the introduction of identity cards?
VISCOUNT COLVILLE OF CULROSSMy Lords, I really think that the question of identity cards is something that ought to be raised specifically as a substantive Question rather than as a supplementary on Mr. Tariq Ali. It is a little far away from the original Question.
§ BARONESS STOCKSMy Lords, will Her Majesty's Government realise that if Mr. Tariq Ali is in fact a registered post-graduate student of any university he is, to some extent, dependent on public funds for the facilities which he receives as a post-graduate student?
VISCOUNT COLVILLE or CULROSSMy Lords, I am sure that that is so. I should think that it would be for the grant-paying authority to consider his activity; but again, this is a little far away from the question of his nationality.
§ LORD CLIFFORD OF CHUDLEIGHMy Lords, did the noble Viscount notice the remarks of the New Zealand representative at the C.P.A. Conference here on the question of who and what comes into this country?
VISCOUNT COLVILLE OF CULROSSMy Lords, I seem to have been very short on my reading during the Recess. If the noble Lord would draw the observation specifically to my attention I will make the greatest effort to read it forthwith.
§ LORD SHACKLETONMy Lords, since it is apparently possible to ask the Government any question we like on this matter irrespective of what is on the Order Paper, would the noble Viscount agree—and may I say that I agree that he was entirely right not to answer the other questions—that it would be unfortunate if his proper refusal to answer a question on identity cards gave any impression that the Government were contemplating such a matter? I ask this as it has been raised, as I think unfortunately, on the Question.
VISCOUNT COLVILLE OF CULROSSMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Shackleton. My hesitation about answering the question indicates nothing whatever in either direction.