§ Mr. Bartlettasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that many refugees still interned in Britain are men and women of Jewish race who have suffered torture in Gestapo camps or prisons; and whether bearing in mind the provision in the armistice terms imposed upon Rumania that the internment of enemy nationals shall not include those of Jewish nationality, he will reconsider his internment policy.
§ Mr. H. MorrisonI am quite unable to accept the suggestion in first part of the Question. Apart from a few persons with criminal records who are interned on grounds of public order, the aliens of enemy nationality who are still interned are those who have failed to satisfy me that their sympathies are with the United Nations rather than with their country of origin. As regards the second part of the Question, there is no analogy between the internment of German and Hungarian nationals in Rumania after the cessation of 379W hostilities and the internment of aliens of enemy nationality in the United Kingdom during the continuance of hostilities. Moreover, there is in this country no classification of foreigners by reference to race or religion, and any discrimination on these grounds would be contrary to our settled policy. In the exercise of my powers for the control of aliens of enemy nationality, I am concerned only with the question whether detention is required in the interests of national security.