HC Deb 31 March 1943 vol 388 cc189-90W
Miss Rathbone

asked the Home Secretary how many refugees from Nazi persecution who are of enemy origin have been admitted to the United Kingdom during the years 1940, 1941 and 1942 respectively, and how many during the first quarter of 1943?

Mr. Peake

The detailed information asked for is not available but some 260 Germans and Austrians are registered as having been admitted to this country as war refugees since 12th May, 1940.

Miss Rathbone

asked the Home Secretary how many refugees have been admitted to the United Kingdom other than those who have come to join His Majesty's Forces, or the forces of our Allies or the Merchant Navies, or to do work of national importance for ourselves or our Allies, or are the wives or children of such men, during 1940, 1941 and 1942, respectively, and during the first quarter of 1943?

Mr. Peake

The statistics are not kept in a form to enable me to furnish the information for which my hon. Friend asks. Moreover, as the hon. Member will appreciate, it would not be in the national interest to give any information from which it would be possible for the enemy to infer the approximate number of aliens who, since coming here, have joined the Armed Forces of the United Nations.

Miss Rathbone

asked the Home Secretary how many evacuees from the Channel Islands, Gibraltar, Malta and other British possessions are included in the 63,000 as refugees admitted to this country during 1940, 1941 and 1942?

Mr. Peake

I presume my hon. Friend refers to the figures given by the Lord Privy Seal during the Debate in another place on 23rd instant. Those figures related to aliens who came here as refugees from enemy and enemy-occupied territory and did not include British subjects who came here from British Possessions.