§ 25. Mr. Stokesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has any indication that there will be a decline in the number of immigrants to the United Kingdom; and if so, when he expects this to be.
§ Mr. Alexander W. LyonNew immigration now consists almost entirely of dependants of people already settled here, of United Kingdom passport holders to whom we have a special commitment, and of people accepted for settlement by reason of marriage. While it has never been the practice to make forecasts of future entry, which would be highly speculative, we expect that after a few years there will be a significant decline in the numbers of dependants and of United Kingdom passport holders arriving for settlement.
§ 47. Mr. Biggs-Davisonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will make a statement on the levels of legal and illegal immigration, respectively.
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§ Mr. Roy JenkinsAs to legal immigration, I would refer the hon. Member to the Immigration Statistics 1974 (Cmnd. 6064) published on 28th May, and to the answer given today to a Question by the hon. Member for Halesowen and Stourbridge (Mr. Stokes).
It is not possible, and cannot by its nature be possible, to measure the scale of illegal entry; but as to the steps currently taken to counter it I would refer the hon. Member to the answer given today to Questions by the hon. Members for Esher (Mr. Mather) and Barkston Ash (Mr. Alison).