Commonwealth Citizens and Foreign Nationals

HC Deb 20 June 1974 vol 875 c217W

45. Sir David Renton

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the figure of 71,600 more Commonwealth citizens and foreign nationals admitted to the United Kingdom than left it in the first three months of 1974 compares with the same period in 1973; and whether he will make a statement.

Mr. Alexander W. Lyon

The corresponding figure for 1973 was 58,648. As compared with 1973, the higher net balance inflow in the first quarter of 1974 was of nationals of EEC countries with lower figures for other foreign nationals and Commonwealth citizens.

Conclusions about the scale of entry for settlement cannot be drawn from the net balance figures, particularly where those figures relate only to parts of years.

For ease of comparison the figures are recorded in the following table:

EXCESS OF ARRIVALS OVER DEPARTURES
		January-March
		1974	1973
EEC nationals	…	31,760	4,841
Other foreign nationals	…	14,184	21,946
Commonwealth citizens	…	25,656	31,861
Total	…	71,600	58,648