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Mr. Hurd : The record will show that the right hon. Gentleman equated anxiety about the position in the Punjab with anxiety about the position in Hong Kong.

Is the opposition to the Bill on the part of Opposition Front-Bench spokesmen because these are professional people who we hope will stay in Hong Kong but who, if they came to Europe, would make a strong and immediate contribution to our society? Is it because some of them work successfully in a capitalist society or in public services of high reputation? Why do Labour Front-Bench spokesmen discriminate against those key people in Hong Kong? It makes no sense in terms of the principles that I am accustomed to hearing from the Opposition ; it makes sense only in terms of an unprincipled effort to embarrass the Government.

The mask of the right hon. Member for Sparkbrook slipped when he accused my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary of seeking to preserve his racist credentials. The mask slipped and a nasty little bit of prejudice peeped out.

It is not true to say that the scheme will be of no benefit to the whole community in Hong Kong, which wants the public services, the prosperity and the stability of the colony to be maintained. The whole population of Hong Kong has an interest in the success of the scheme.

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The right hon. Members for Sparkbrook and for Gorton were both continuously pressed by Conservative Members about numbers, but as they dodged the missiles it became clear what they would propose. I do not know which right hon. Gentleman would occupy this never- never land, but one of them would come to the House with a series of complicated propositions about immigration from Hong Kong without giving the House any idea of the numbers involved. But numbers are important when making judgments on any matter to do with immigration control.

What would the Opposition have said, what would the uproar have been, if we had produced the Bill without including numbers in it? We decided to grasp this difficulty, to fix a total and to put it on the face of the Bill, where it now is. That is the honest and straightforward way to set about a difficult problem of this sort, and it contrasts favourably with the weasly way in which the Opposition propose to set about it--

Mr. Janman rose --

Mr. Hurd : Adjectives such as divisive, elitist and privileged which have peppered the Bill in Opposition speeches were, I am told, effectively dealt with by the right hon. Member for Bethnal Green and Stepney. Of course a selective scheme has to select. Any process of selection, examination or even election separates those who succeed from those who do not--so much is inevitable. There is disappointment among the people who do not succeed, but I repeat that the services, the jobs, the success and the stability that we are seeking to maintain in Hong Kong benefit the whole community, not just those who get passports.

My hon. Friend the Member for Halesowen and Stourbridge (Sir J. Stokes) greatly exaggerated my influence in this matter, as I assure him historians will record. He sought to draw a contrast between the interests of Britain and those of Hong Kong, but on a material point they are closely linked. Hong Kong is one of our largest overseas markets. Our trade with it, at £4 billion a year, makes it our largest export market in Asia after Japan, and the gross stock market value of British-owned, controlled or managed companies in Hong Kong has been estimated at about £20 billion. So an impoverished Hong Kong would be bad news for jobs and prosperity in this country. The basic point, however, is that this is not a Bill for millionaires. In this world my experience is that millionaires tend to be able to look after themselves. The Bill is apt to the particular character of Hong Kong, which is a capitalist society, owing its success largely to that fact and to the Chinese genius for making a success of institutions of this kind. But it works only because it is allied to high public standards within the public and the private sectors. It is the combination of free enterprise and high standards--British standards--which has made Hong Kong a success and which the Bill's aim is to maintain by keeping in Hong Kong those responsible for the high standards.

The Bill will serve not only those who obtain the passports but all those who benefit from the standards. We do not want those standards to run down. We do not want our last big colony to end in second rate shabbiness. This

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is a case where our interests and our reputation run together. The Bill is not the whole answer ; it is an essential part of the answer, and I commend it to the House.

Question put, That the Bill be now read a Second time : The House divided : Ayes 313, Noes 216.

Division No. 163] [10.00 pm

AYES

Aitken, Jonathan

Alexander, Richard

Alison, Rt Hon Michael

Allason, Rupert

Alton, David

Amery, Rt Hon Julian

Amess, David

Arbuthnot, James

Arnold, Tom (Hazel Grove)

Ashby, David

Ashdown, Rt Hon Paddy

Atkins, Robert

Atkinson, David

Baker, Rt Hon K. (Mole Valley)

Baker, Nicholas (Dorset N)

Baldry, Tony

Banks, Robert (Harrogate)

Barnes, Mrs Rosie (Greenwich)

Batiste, Spencer

Beaumont-Dark, Anthony

Beggs, Roy

Beith, A. J.

Bellingham, Henry

Bennett, Nicholas (Pembroke)

Benyon, W.

Blaker, Rt Hon Sir Peter

Body, Sir Richard

Boswell, Tim

Bottomley, Peter

Bottomley, Mrs Virginia

Bowden, A (Brighton K'pto'n)

Bowden, Gerald (Dulwich)

Bowis, John

Brandon-Bravo, Martin

Brazier, Julian

Bright, Graham

Brooke, Rt Hon Peter

Brown, Michael (Brigg & Cl't's)

Bruce, Ian (Dorset South)

Bruce, Malcolm (Gordon)

Buck, Sir Antony

Burns, Simon

Burt, Alistair

Butterfill, John

Campbell, Menzies (Fife NE)

Carlile, Alex (Mont'g)

Carlisle, Kenneth (Lincoln)

Carrington, Matthew

Cartwright, John

Cash, William

Chalker, Rt Hon Mrs Lynda

Channon, Rt Hon Paul

Chapman, Sydney

Chope, Christopher

Churchill, Mr

Clark, Hon Alan (Plym'th S'n)

Clark, Sir W. (Croydon S)

Clarke, Rt Hon K. (Rushcliffe)

Colvin, Michael

Conway, Derek

Coombs, Anthony (Wyre F'rest)

Cope, Rt Hon John

Cormack, Patrick

Couchman, James

Critchley, Julian

Currie, Mrs Edwina

Curry, David

Davies, Q. (Stamf'd & Spald'g)

Davis, David (Boothferry)

Day, Stephen

Devlin, Tim

Dorrell, Stephen

Douglas-Hamilton, Lord James

Dykes, Hugh

Eggar, Tim

Emery, Sir Peter

Evans, David (Welwyn Hatf'd)

Ewing, Mrs Margaret (Moray)

Fallon, Michael

Faulds, Andrew

Favell, Tony

Fearn, Ronald

Fenner, Dame Peggy

Field, Barry (Isle of Wight)

Finsberg, Sir Geoffrey

Fishburn, John Dudley

Fookes, Dame Janet

Forman, Nigel

Forsyth, Michael (Stirling)

Forth, Eric

Fowler, Rt Hon Sir Norman

Fox, Sir Marcus

Franks, Cecil

Freeman, Roger

Fry, Peter

Gale, Roger

Garel-Jones, Tristan

Gilmour, Rt Hon Sir Ian

Glyn, Dr Sir Alan

Goodson-Wickes, Dr Charles

Gorst, John

Gow, Ian

Grant, Sir Anthony (CambsSW)

Greenway, Harry (Ealing N)

Greenway, John (Ryedale)

Griffiths, Sir Eldon (Bury St E')

Grist, Ian

Ground, Patrick

Gummer, Rt Hon John Selwyn

Hague, William

Hamilton, Hon Archie (Epsom)

Hamilton, Neil (Tatton)

Hampson, Dr Keith

Hanley, Jeremy

Hannam, John

Harris, David

Haselhurst, Alan

Hawkins, Christopher

Hayes, Jerry

Hayward, Robert

Heath, Rt Hon Edward

Heathcoat-Amory, David

Heseltine, Rt Hon Michael

Higgins, Rt Hon Terence L.

Hill, James

Hind, Kenneth

Hogg, Hon Douglas (Gr'th'm)

Holt, Richard

Hordern, Sir Peter

Howard, Rt Hon Michael

Howarth, Alan (Strat'd-on-A)

Howarth, G. (Cannock & B'wd)

Howe, Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey

Howell, Rt Hon David (G'dford)

Howell, Ralph (North Norfolk)

Howells, Geraint

Hughes, Robert G. (Harrow W)

Hughes, Simon (Southwark)

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