House of Commons Hansard Debates for 4 Apr 1990

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Kong will be authorised to handle "relevant external affairs" on its own. All that was agreed last month. That is obviously the best way forward for Hong Kong. Everyone concerned should strive to see that it works, and not take steps that will jeopardise it. No one can prophesy what the world will look like in seven years' time, who the personalities in power in Peking will be or, for that matter, who they will be in London ; but there is no reason to suppose that the international agreement will not be adhered to. It will be in everyone's interests, including China's, to adhere to it. At this stage, it is the opposite of helpful for people to talk about Armageddon. Such a nightmare "end of the world" scenario would have to be dealt with not by this Parliament or the next, but by the Parliament after that. It would be the height of irresponsibility to start moving populations round the world now on a permanent, irrevocable basis because of transient factors or hypothetical future circumstances. I doubt whether those concerned or their offspring would have cause to thank us for that.

What the Government propose in the Bill is a bizarre lottery with 50,000 British passports, catering for some 250,000 people, as prizes to be competed for under a grotesque points system. For example, anyone over the age of 51 would incur negative points ; those who have laboured long in the British service would therefore be discriminated against. The majority would be from the private sector. For business men, the points would take account of earnings "as a measure of success and value to Hong Kong."

For ordinary residents there is nothing. Those passports would obviously be highly prized and much sought after in an unseemly scramble in which there would be winners and losers, and many disappointed people.

Donald Tsang, the Hong Kong director of administration, says that 750,000-- 15 times the number of passports--will apply, and that most will be disappointed. As a neat Thatcherite touch, all applicants will be charged a fee, whether they are successful or not. All that is supposed to bring confidence to Hong Kong. How does it give confidence to those on the lower deck to tell them that it is necessary to give out lifebelts, but only to a few of the chosen on the bridge? This move will encourage everyone to think that they should have a passport ; lack of confidence is thereby engendered as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

As for the inane idea that giving passports will stop people leaving or using them, why in that case not give them to everyone? There was no consultation with the Chinese, who have said that they will not recognise them, or dual nationality. The passports cannot be used to enter or leave Hong Kong after 1997. Ownership of them will almost oblige their holders to leave before 1997 ; which is the opposite of what the Government say they intend.

Let no one pretend that the Bill can do anything for confidence. It will be totally counter-productive. Andrew To, a student leader, said that it would not restore confidence. He said that he was against any scheme that tried to divide Chinese loyalties. Instead of precipitating and encouraging a mad rush for British passports to get out of Hong Kong, and thus destabilising the colony, the Government should work to reaffirm and make a success of the joint declaration, which gives Hong Kong a further 50 years of autonomy after 1997--much the best prospect for the future. If--although there is no evidence of it yet

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--things look as though they are likely to go badly wrong, it will be for a future Parliament to address the problem, and not for us foolishly and irresponsibly to precipitate it unnecessarily now. 9.3 pm

Sir John Stokes (Halesowen and Stourbridge) : In the few moments I have, I wish to speak briefly on the effects of the Bill on the British people. After 40 years of mass immigration, although considerable numbers are still coming in, people were beginning to think that at least primary immigration was over. People looked to the Conservative party to be stricter on immigration controls than any of the other parties. The Conservative party has promised to end mass immigration, but now we are talking of allowing up to 250,000 Chinese people in Hong Kong the right to come and live here, let alone their dependants and others who may follow them. It is no use the Government saying that only a proportion will exercise that right ; that is far too much of a gamble for most people in an uncertain situation.

Speaking against the Bill is an occasion for immense sadness for me, because it is the first time that I have ever differed from my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on an important matter. My admiration for her is unbounded, and I am deeply sorry to find myself opposed to her when her great services to Britain are being forgotten and she is the subject of so much attack and vilification in the press and the media. She always has a close understanding of how the ordinary people in these islands think and feel, and I can only assume that she was charmed by some of the emissaries from Hong Kong and persuaded by her Cabinet colleagues to go against her own fundamental instincts.

My right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary, whom I admire, was originally opposed to the Bill. I was disappointed that his opening speech did not contain a single sentence about the effect of the Bill on the British people for whom he is ultimately responsible. That leaves my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and the Foreign Office. The position of Foreign Secretary is one of the greatest in the land and he has to defend our interests abroad and at home. In the last resort, even the humblest among us must look to the Foreign Secretary for protection. In this particularly difficult situation, it would appear that my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has preferred to look after the interests of the Chinese people in Hong Kong rather than the interests of our people at home. I do not understand how my right hon. Friend can defend that judgment.

What have the Hong Kong Chinese done to be given such special privileges over and above the rights and duties that the Foreign Secretary owes to ordinary English men and women who have never voted for immigration, who never liked it and who wish it to stop? They do not want or like a multiracial, multicultural and multi-religious society compared with the old wonderful social cohesion that we had in these islands which made our history so successful and unique. We are now facing the problems of that mixture in our small island. The Bill will reopen all those old wounds and produce a further loss of confidence in the Government when they are going through a difficult patch.

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Some will say that these immigrants are millionaires, cultured people and entrepreneurs. They may be marvellous people--I saw them in Hong Kong and there was much there that I admired-- but they are still people of foreign extraction and we have too many of those here now. Therefore, I oppose the Bill with all the feeling that I can command. My entire political life has been to try to preserve all that is best in England. If I were not to oppose the Bill, I would be declaring all my political life to have been one long lie.

I am extremely sorry that we should make such a serious decision. It will not please the Chinese Government, it will worry the Chinese in Hong Kong, it will be extremely difficult to work out and it will have a most depressing effect on the people of this country. I have not received a single letter in favour of the Billl, from the immigrant population or the indigenous population in my constituency or from anyone else ; but I have received many against it. What are we doing as a Conservative Government, the trustees for the ordinary people in this country, but letting them down in such an appalling way? It is a matter of great shame to me, and I cannot understand why it is being done. I am sure that it has been hurriedly thought out and not thought out properly. I fear that the debates here, which will be long and hard in this difficult summer, will create awful problems for the Government. When the Bill is passed, it will cause further problems and headaches for the governor and officials of Hong Kong.

Nor do I like officials in Hong Kong, who are not accountable to anybody, deciding who should enter this country and be a subject of the Queen. This is a new Bill and a new change, as the War Crimes Bill was a new Bill. We must stop bringing such new Bills before the House. We do not like this Bill, we do not want it, and I hope that it will be defeated.

9.9 pm

Mr. Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) : The House should be well aware that the Labour party has firmly opposed the intention behind the Bill ever since it was first announced more than nine months ago. We described it as a charter for those with influence and affluence, and as elitist and unworkable. When it was published before Easter, our view was decisively confirmed. Before I sit down, I shall take the opportunity of replying to the debate to set out in detail the Labour party's policy on Hong Kong.

We said that the scheme was unworkable. In 1988, the Home Office processed 70,800 citizenship applications, with 361 staff employed for that purpose. For the processing of the hundreds of thousands of applications for passports expected under the Bill, seven officials will be specifically allocated. That is what the financial memorandum to the Bill states.

We said that the Bill was elitist. Under its scheme, points for passport eligibility are to be awarded, as my hon. Friend the Member for Newham, North-East (Mr. Leighton) said, on the size of earnings as a measure of success as well as for substantial financial investments. I am not surprised that, deriving from a party that once traded in the sale of honours, Social and Liberal Democrats support a Bill that introduces a trade in passports.

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We said that the scheme was elitist. Two categories in the Bill, totalling 6,800, will mainly confer those passports on privileged persons invited to apply by the governor of Hong Kong, basing his decision on personal knowledge and contacts. That is a recipe for favouritism and cronyism in the award of United Kingdom passports. We did not realise that the Government's proposals would be such a complete muddle. The hon. Member for Halesowen and Stourbridge (Sir J. Stokes) rightly described the Bill as "not thought out properly". We do not know even now whether the complete scheme is before the House. During his ludicrous visit to Hong Kong last week, the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as he clowned his way around the colony, referred to an additional passport plan under which British companies will be able to second senior employees to Britain for a period that would make them eligible for passports. That would introduce a novel and totally unacceptable principle under which recipients of British passports would be selected by private individuals running companies.

Nor could we have forecast that the scheme would be so nonsensical. On the age criterion, positive points are awarded only for applicants aged between 30 and 40. At all other ages, points decrease. Under the experience criterion, 10 points may be awarded for each year of relevant work experience up to a maximum of 15 years. Between the ages of 25 and 30, and between 40 and 45, applicants will gain points for experience but lose points for being either too young or too old.

To understand the full absurdity of the scheme, let us consider the case of a woman aged 64 holding the office of Prime Minister. She would probably be regarded by the Home Secretary as a key worker. For the experience factor, she would receive a maximum of 110 points, and for education and training, she would receive up to another 100 points. British links could get her a further 50 points, and knowledge of English would probably clock up another 50, despite her tendency to confuse the singular and plural first person pronouns. Under the special circumstance heading, as the criteria are subjective and non-accountable, she might win 50 more points for exceptional merit or outstanding achievements. On the other hand, she would win no points for public or community service, as such service in an official capacity is excluded from the scheme. So far, she wins up to 360 points out of a possible 800. However, she loses 200 points for being over 60, and ending up with only 160 points, she unfortunately would not qualify for a passport.

The scheme is not only ridiculous, but is being put forward on an unprecedented basis. As his colleagues have done before him, the Home Secretary, echoed by the right hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Ashdown), said that the intention behind the Bill was that passport holders would not take up their right of entry to Britain. This is the first time in my 20 years in the House that I have heard a Government ask Parliament to enact a Bill on the explicit assurance that it will not be implemented. It is hypocritical to ask the House to pass any Bill unless the Government intend it to come fully into operation. The Government are seriously misleading the House by claiming that the Bill will anchor passport holders to Hong Kong. The Chinese Government have made it brutally clear that, after Hong Kong becomes part of the People's Republic in 1997, the passports issued under the Bill will

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not be valid for leaving or entering Hong Kong, and that, to quote the words of a senior official of the Chinese Government who is dealing with these matters, the passport holders

"will be considered Chinese citizens and thus will not be entitled to British consular protection after 1997."

In the light of such repeated pronouncements by the Chinese authorities, those awarded passports under the scheme, far from being anchored and encouraged to continue the administration and business life of Hong Kong, would be far more likely to use them to come here while the going was good and while the passports could be used. The Home Secretary was completely wrong in his response to the hon. Member for Northampton, North (Mr. Marlow) on this matter.

Mr. Adley : To get the point clear, will the right hon. Gentleman agree that his point about the Chinese Government's attitude to the passports has not just emerged, but was referred to specifically in two memoranda, both of which were signed by both Governments in 1984?

Mr. Kaufman : The Chinese Government have made their position increasingly clear. On the very day that the Foreign Secretary announced the scheme, they made their position clear again. The Government should have been in no doubt on the subject.

In an effort to stampede support for the Bill, the Government have made much of what they call the "flow of emigration" from Hong Kong. The Home Secretary did so again this afternoon, as did his right hon. Friend the Member for Guildford (Mr. Howell). They claim that only this scheme can staunch the flow of emigration from Hong Kong. The fact is that, although there is, understandably, great concern in Hong Kong about its future after 1997, substantial emigration from the colony is nothing new.

When the House debated Hong Kong in July 1988, almost a year before the Tiananmen square massacre, the then Foreign Secretary, now Leader of the House, said :

"I turn now to another source of concern--emigration from Hong Kong There can be no doubt that it is real, particularly among the professional and middle classes. Even so, the scale should not be overstated. We should remember that Hong Kong has had a tradition of emigration throughout its history. In the early 1970s the numbers emigrating were higher than they have been in the last few years."--[ Official Report, 15 July 1988 ; Vol. 137, c. 702.]

The latest figures show that, whereas in 1989--which included the six months following the Tiananmen square massacre--those emigrating from Hong Kong numbered 42,000, in 1988 the number emigrating was 3, 800 higher, at 45,800. I do not seek to minimise the understandable apprehension caused in Hong Kong by the massacre but it was always inevitable--even without such horrific events--that there would be substantial emigration as 1997 approached. The Bill will not stem that emigration ; it will give it added impetus.

Mr. Roger Sims (Chislehurst) : The right hon. Gentleman seems to be suggesting that people who obtain passports will come here as quickly as they can. Is he aware that, since last July, the Singapore Government have accepted applications from 17,000 heads of household in Hong Kong, of whom 600--just 3.5 per cent.--have taken up passports? Is it not likely that the same would occur here?

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Mr. Kaufman : The fact is that China will not take over Hong Kong until 1 July 1997, so there will be a considerable period during which passports will be available after the Bill is passed. All the indications are that the impetus will be there for those who are awarded the passports to use them for travel while the Chinese Government will not prevent them from doing so.

Mr. Budgen : Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

Mr. Kaufman : I shall give way to the hon. Gentleman, but after that I hope that the House will forgive me if I impose a moratorium on interventions.

Mr. Budgen : I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will deal with the Opposition's important motion proposing that the Bill should be committed to a Committee of the whole House if it gets its Second Reading. He will reflect that the House recently spent four days debating the Budget, which is likely to be a matter of transitory interest within two or three months. The Bill will affect the whole country for a generation. I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will do his best to persuade as many right hon. and hon. Members as possible that it would be a grave abuse of Parliament were the Bill merely pushed upstairs into a Standing Committee.

Mr. Kaufman : This is a constitutional Bill dealing with nationality, and I should have thought that the Government would volunteer to have it dealt with by a Committee of the whole House. The Government not having done that, I am surprised that the Liberal Democrats--the Liberal party was once a great constitutional party--should be voting with them to smother debate on the Bill. There are some Conservative Members who seek to use the possible arrival in Britain of those holding passports under the Bill to provoke a racist scare. Any debate on Tory manifesto pledges on immigration must be a matter for disputation on the Conservative Benches ; it is no concern of ours. The Opposition are concerned about the serious and unfair distortion of immigration policy that the Bill will bring about.

It is no good saying that the Bill does not have an immigration policy aspect. Let me tell the House about my constituent, Koon Tai Chan, a Hong Kong Chinese about whom I have received a letter from the Manchester law centre only this week. He is the brother of a British citizen, the husband of a British citizen and the father of a baby born here. He is at present subject to a deportation order. Unless the Home Secretary relents, which so far he shows no sign of doing, Koon Tai Chan will soon be permanently separated from his wife and child and sent back to Hong Kong. The only way in which his British family can stay united with their husband and father is to accompany him to Hong Kong--a place whose future the Government regard as so precarious that they propose to provide a lifebelt under the Bill for 225,000 of the colony's most influential and affluent citizens.

Koon Tai Chan is not essential to Hong Kong's business life or administration ; he is simply a cook. The Home Secretary would no doubt add that, as an overstayer under the terms of the Immigration Act, he is what the Home Office calls a "bad case". To me, Koon Tai Chan, with a British wife and a child in my constituency, is a better "case" than all those who will receive passports under the Bill, and there is no way that I propose to agree

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to the passage of a statute that will perpetuate--indeed, make far worse--the heartless injustices of the Government's immigration policies.

Such injustices apply to citizens and residents of this country originating not only from Hong Kong, but from the Indian sub-continent and from other areas as well. Those who will get passports under the Bill will not have to submit to DNA testing, to humiliating medical examinations or to the primary purpose rule. They will not be subjected to offensive questioning of the kind that I heard in the immigration department of the British high commission in New Delhi last week. A man who wanted to come here for a short visit to attend a wedding was subjected to a catechism that included inquiries about how many acres of land he rented and what the annual return was on that land.

The people who receive passports under this Bill will not have to wait hours in a hut for an interview, as did an Indian university professor last week at the New Delhi high commission. Under this Bill, if he was a Hong Kong Chinese, he would probably get enough points to qualify for a British passport. However, as an Indian, he had to wait for hours simply to plead for a tourist visa.

In any case, the Bill is not even increasing confidence among its prospective beneficiaries. While awaiting publication of the Bill, Dame Lydia Dunn of OMELCO stated on 4 July last year that the creation of categories would be divisive and difficult to defend. She said that the creation of such categories would make it more difficult to govern Hong Kong. I am baffled as to why she has gone back on a series of such statements.

Many of her fellow residents of Hong Kong continue to be uninspired by the Bill. A trade union leader, Lee Chuk-Yan, said :

"It gives one more choice to people who already have lots of choices. It gives nothing to those who have no choice."

An opinion poll in Hong Kong a few weeks ago showed that 90 per cent. of executives, professionals and entrepreneurs--the people whom this scheme is designed to impress--doubt whether the package will achieve its objective, while 86 per cent. of younger Hong Kong residents regard the passport plan as irrelevant.

Rev. Lo Long-Kwong who leads a group called "Hong Kong People Saving Hong Kong" said of the Bill :

"It is unbalanced and people who do not fall within these categories will feel deserted and unimportant. This does not help the whole society to face the confidence crisis."

A scheme that divides employees in both the private and public sectors into selected and rejected will make the colony harder, not easier, to run.

I cannot understand the Home Secretary's argument that the 96 per cent. of the Hong Kong population who will not qualify will somehow gain confidence from the knowledge that 4 per cent. of their wealthier and more influential compatriots are to be passengers on Waddington's ark.

No doubt it is that adverse reaction among alleged beneficiaries that led the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonealth Office, the hon. Member for Warwickshire, North (Mr. Maude), to indulge in Hong Kong last week in his comedy performance, when he went around blithely promising Hong Kong residents passports from West Germany, Belgium, Canada, Australia, France, Luxembourg and numerous other countries, amounting to 50,000 passports in all. All the countries concerned instantly repudiated what the Minister of State had said.

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For example, the West German Government stated with some perplexity that the Minister of State's statement was "a strange thing". More curtly they describe it as nonsense. No wonder the Minister of State gave journalists a telling off for what he called

"interpreting the syntax in an excessively fastidious way." It seems that the Minister of State picked up his strange ideas from reading newspapers-- a method of acquiring information that the Prime Minister would certainly not recommend. We are told that the Foreign Secretary will deal with that subject when he replies tonight. I hope that any information that he has for the House is more firmly based. The fact is that the Government's policy has been an inconsistent mess.

Mr. Couchman rose--

Mr. Ian Bruce rose--

Mr. Speaker : Order.

Mr. Kaufman : I give way to the hon. Member for Dorset (Mr. Bruce).

Mr. Bruce : Whether it is true or not, the people of Hong Kong believe that the Labour party would take away the right of abode in the United Kingdom from people for whom that was included in their passports. It would be helpful if the right hon. Gentleman could state whether that would be Labour policy.

Mr. Kaufman : That is a useful intervention and I shall certainly respond to it. [ Hon. Members :-- "When?"] Now--at this moment. When the Foreign Secretary made his statement about the scheme on 20 December, I said :

"If the scheme is embodied in an Act, a Labour Government, on coming to office, will examine how far it has gone and how it has worked A Labour Goverment will not be bound to continue it".--[ Official Report, 20 December 1989 ; Vol. 164, c. 366.]

By that we mean, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Sparkbrook (Mr. Hattersley) repeated earlier, that we shall of course observe the law as passed by Parliament, but as the Bill expressly provides for alterations to the scheme of allocation, I am sure that the Government would not abdicate the right to alter the scheme, and neither shall we. That is our position.

Mr. Marlow : Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

Mr. Kaufman : No I shall not give way to the hon. Gentleman ; I am afraid that he is rising to be helpful, which I should much prefer him not to be.

On the one hand, the Foreign and Commonweath Secretary offends the Chinese by the passport scheme, but in every other way the Government cosy up to them and bend the knee to them.

When, immediately after the Tiananmen square massacre, I urged the present Leader of the House, then the Foreign Secretary, to cut off Government funding for a trade mission that was soon to go to China, the right hon. and learned Gentleman called in aid

"the advancement of the cause of respect for human rights in China--[ Official Report, 12 July 1989 ; Vol. 156, c. 967]. as justification for the Department of Trade and Industry financing a mission that was planned to meet the man who gave the orders for the massacre.

Then, in September, I revealed the breach of the Government's own arms embargo on China with the sale of head-up displays and radar equipment for use with Mig fighter planes. We all know that, a couple of weeks ago, the

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Prime Minister slipped out of Downing street to attend a private dinner with the Chinese ambassador at his embassy. What signal was that cosy social occasion meant to send to the people of Hong Kong? The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have long been determined to "converge"--to use the fashionable word--with China at all costs. The most unforgivable sell-out has been on progress in establishing democracy in Hong Kong. I state clearly that, in the past, Governments of both parties have had a sorry record on this issue. My hon. Friends the Members for Bradford, West (Mr. Madden) and for Liverpool, West Derby (Mr. Wareing), as well as the right hon. Member for Brent, North (Sir R. Boyson), were right about that. Both parties have failed to give Hong Kong citizens the right directly to elect their Legislative Council. I readily acknowledge the culpability of past Labour Governments on that matter. However, with the signing of the joint declaration in 1984, a new opportunity arose for direct democracy in the colony. We in the Labour party joined representatives from Hong Kong in urging the holding of elections. The present Leader of the House brushed aside our plea for elections to begin in 1988 and eventually announced that only 10 Members-- 18 per cent.--of the Legislative Council would be elected in 1991.

After the Tiananmen square massacre, we urged the Government to give confidence to the people of Hong Kong by speedily increasing the number of Legislative Council Members who were to be elected. When, in June last year, the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs recommended that 50 per cent. of the Legislative Council should be directly elected in 1991 and 100 per cent. in 1995, on behalf of the Labour party I gave immediate support to that recommendation. When representatives of OMELCO came to Britain this January and called for one third of the Legislative Council to be elected in 1991, 50 per cent. in 1995 and 100 per cent. in 2003, we supported their case, although it was a retreat from our position and that of the Select Committee. Indeed, the present Leader of the House, when speaking to the House last June, seemed to favour OMELCO's 2003 target for 100 per cent. direct elections. [ Hon. Members :-- "What about the policy?"] We shall come to the policy.

When, after eight months of procrastination, the present Foreign Secretary announced the Government's decision in February it was for only 18 directly elected Members next year--less than a third--followed by a third in 1995 and 100 per cent. not in 2003 but possibly in 2007. As was made clear by the Home Secretary's response to the hon. Member for Macclesfield (Mr. Winterton), the Government have sold out to Hong Kong on democracy by making a deal with those same Chinese to whom they finance trade missions, break their embargo and sell arms and with whom the Prime Minister secretly dines. Now, as a fig leaf to conceal that sell-out, they have put forward this muddled, self-contradictory and discriminatory Bill.

The Bill does everything for the most favoured. For useful citizens such as social workers--

Mr. Tebbit : I sensed that the right hon. Gentleman was coming to the end of his speech, having given himself very little time to say exactly how his policy would work. His right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Sparkbrook (Mr. Hattersley) said that the Labour party

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had defined the categories of Hong Kong citizens whom it would admit. The right hon. Gentleman must know how many that amounts to. What is the number?

Mr. Kaufman : The Cabinet has played a numbers game within itself-- [ Hon. Members :-- "Answer."] For his own purposes, the right hon. Gentleman is also playing the numbers game. We refuse to play a numbers game on immigration. We say that the Bill offers nothing to useful citizens such as social workers, or to students who risk Chinese wrath by demonstrating for democracy as they did only a few days ago. It does nothing for trade unionists, who are always at risk from authoritarian regimes. It does nothing for specific groups which will undoubtedly be disadvantaged by Chinese rule.

The Opposition believe that action is necessary but that it should be action far different from that contained in the Bill. We agree with the Select Committee that the right of abode in Britain should be given to the Hong Kong ethnic non-Chinese, the Indians. We would give them an effective right of abode with a nationality, something that the Government have not done.

Although we cannot accept the Select Committee's recommendation of limited relaxation of United Kingdom immigration law, we agree that the Home Secretary's discretion under section 4(5) of the British Nationality Act 1981 should be used generously on an individual basis to confer British citizenship on public servants who might be at risk. We would also use the Home Secretary's discretion on an individual basis to allow entry for certain other people who might be at risk under Chinese rule, such as trade unionists, journalists and political activists.

We do not believe that it is possible to obtain or offer definite international guarantees, such as those proposed by the Select Committee, for British dependent territory passport holders, but we agree that international discussions should take place with a view to obtaining assurances about policy in the event of a crisis after Hong Kong is transferred to China in 1997. Above all, we do not accept the Government's agenda or that of their opponents on their own Benches which creates the impression that the Hong Kong issue revolves solely around immigration and nationality issues.

We believe that confidence in the colony among the overwhelming mass of the population who are certain to remain there after China takes over must be buttressed and reinforced in other significant ways. That is why a Labour Government on coming to office will look positively at the position and, as time allows, at the possibility of increasing the number of directly elected Members on the Legislative Council. It is not enough simply to keep the colony in satisfactory working order for Chinese sovereignty.

We, accepting the limitations of our power, assert that, until midnight on 30 June 1997, the United Kingdom remains the sovereign power in Hong Kong and should act accordingly. We do not see doling out a number of passports, as provided in the Bill, as a proper, let alone sufficient, exercise of that power. It is a substitute for it. This is a bad Bill, and we shall vote against it.

9.40 pm

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Douglas Hurd) : As often happens when discussions take place across party lines, this has been a

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good, robust debate. It is remarkable that until 8.30 pm, although we had a string of Labour speeches, not one from the Back Benches was in support of the party line. Having just heard it, we can understand the reasons for that.

We are grateful for the solid, shrewd support of my right hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, South (Sir P. Blaker), my hon. Friends the Members for Carshalton and Wallington (Mr. Forman), for Lewisham, West (Mr. Maples) and for Wimbledon (Dr. Goodson-Wickes), who went to Hong Kong, saw the position for himself and changed his mind, and of my right hon. Friends the Members for Southend, West (Mr. Channon) and for Guildford (Mr. Howell), who has long experience of these matters. I listened carefully to the critical speeches from my hon. Friends and to the criticisms in the speeches of our supporters.

The right hon. Member for Birmingham, Sparkbrook (Mr. Hattersley) asked about heads of households. That simply means the individual selected under the scheme who will be eligible for registration. In theory, a husband and wife could both apply, but only one would be awarded citizenship as the principal beneficiary. He asked about character checks on children. I think that he was confusing the immigration rules, where character would not be an impediment, and the provision in the Bill, which has parallels elsewhere, that a character requirement is relevant for citizenship. If one thinks of a 17-year-old with a criminal record, one can see the reasons for that.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Southend, West pressed my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary about the widows of British citizens. In Hansard tomorrow he will see that my right hon. and learned Friend covered the point, but if he is dissatisfied, no doubt he will pursue it. The hon. Member for Bradford, West (Mr. Madden) and the right hon. Member for Bethnal Green and Stepney (Mr. Shore)--I am sorry that I missed both speeches--asked specifically about vulnerable people, such as political activists and journalists. They are covered by the group 3 undertakings and would be eligible under the sensitive services scheme which is part of the Bill. One of the main themes of the debate has been our relationship with China. My right hon. Friends the Members for Old Bexley and Sidcup (Mr. Heath), for Chingford (Mr. Tebbit) and for Brent, North (Sir R. Boyson) all touched on that. We must tread a tightrope in our dealings with the People's Republic of China over Hong Kong. We stay in close touch with China and I make no apology for that. We seek to influence China and I agree that in that respect we have a big task ahead of us. We have no wish to pick quarrels with the Chinese or to complicate the transition to the eventual transfer of power. The constitutional arrangements for the start of the democratic process in Hong Kong next year showed that policy of ours in action. We were much criticised and have been again today by the Opposition and the press in London for reaching an understanding with the Chinese on that point. Yet my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford supported me on that occasion, as did other sensible people. I think that we were right. The House should not take it that, between now and 1997, we will simply listen to every view from Peking, whether whispered or shouted, and then follow it. We did not act in that way on the constitutional question, as those who followed it know, and we shall not act in that way on the nationality question.

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We are using many means to persuade the Chinese of our good faith and good sense in putting forward the Bill. Once they see that a spoiling exercise will not succeed I hope that they will come round to share our view of the Bill's merits. The truth of the matter is that we must act between now and 1997 on the judgments that we, as trustees for Hong Kong, make on what is best for Hong Kong. I do not believe that the House would wish it otherwise.

The right hon. Members for Sparkbrook and for Manchester, Gorton (Mr. Kaufman) came back to the issue of democracy. I believe that the policy that they now advocate is unreal. Compared with the White Paper of 1988, we have speeded up our plans, as the right hon. Member for Gorton acknowledged, for democratic reform. In the past few months, the Government had to choose to make a steady start towards democracy in the Legislative Council next year in a way that will be sustained and improved by the Basic Law after 1997. I agree with my right hon. Friend the Member for Guildford that we should look for opportunities for improvement before then, for example, in 1995. The choice was between making a start next year in a way that could be sustained and improved or starting next year at a higher level, which would have been immediately denounced and eventually reversed by the People's Republic of China. The more I think about it, the more I think we were right in our conclusion and that view is increasingly shared in Hong Kong.

It has been argued that the attitude of the People's Republic of China to the Bill will make the scheme unworkable. We have taken pains to explain to the Chinese that the main objective of the scheme is to stem the exodus of talented and enterprising people from Hong Kong and thus maintain Hong Kong's stability and prosperity. That is one of our obligations under the joint declaration. The provisions of the joint declaration and the Basic Law state that British and other foreign nationals may continue to serve in or be recruited to all but a small number of top posts in the future Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. China is willing--it is in the Basic Law--to accept that up to 20 per cent. of the Legislative Council after 1997 can be foreign passport holders.

The right hon. Member for Gorton referred to recent statements by the Chinese on consular protection. We shall ensure that the interests of British citizens will be protected to the fullest possible extent under international law. The joint declaration and the Basic Law provide that people in the SAR after 1997 will have the full protection of the law, including basic human rights as enshrined in the international covenant on civil and political rights and the international covenant on economic, social and cultural rights. The question is whether Hong Kong people are free to come and go as they please. Freedom of movement is guaranteed by the joint declaration and the Basic Law and they provide that Hong Kong people "may use travel documents issued by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, or by other competent authorities of the People's Republic of China, or of other states."

I promised to deal with the question of international support. Hong Kong is an international centre and it has huge international investment, and its major trading partners have a strong interest in its continuing stability

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and prosperity. On that basis, some countries, already of their own volition, have started to provide such international support and we have encouraged others to do so. Singapore has already introduced a scheme covering up to 25,000 heads of household. Within the European Community France has already implemented a scheme to provide for the right of entry to employees of French companies and their families. In the past few days the Belgian Government have announced a similar scheme and Germany and Luxembourg are finalising schemes broadly of the same nature. The House may know of the proposal being considered by the United States Congress that would enable Hong Kong people granted the right to settle in the United States, up to 20,000 a year, to defer settlement there until 2002. Such measures, whether they are specifically tailored to Hong Kong or reflect the general immigration policies of the countries concerned, are helpful. Taken together, they could already add substantially to the impact of our scheme.

A number of Governments are still considering schemes--this is a continuing effort on our part, and, we hope, on theirs. However, it should be clear to the House that, while it was right for us to take the lead, our scheme will have substantial backing from others. If the Bill were to fall, as The Times leading article said today, others' efforts would also be liable to fall.

British citizens from Hong Kong will have exactly the same rights as any other Community country citizen to work and settle in any part of the European Community. I have been asked about that. When we speak about those who might come here from Hong Kong as a result of the Bill, by "here" we mean not just Britain, but anywhere in the EC. We can imagine that a sizeable proportion of those who come will go to other EC countries.

I shall refer next to the main thrust of criticism from my right hon. and hon. Friends who have spoken against the Bill. I think that they would accept that in the past four months I have never joined in any criticism of Conservative Members who criticised our proposals, because I strongly endorse the need for firm but fair immigration controls. I believe, to quote our manifesto, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford did, that firm, fair immigration controls are essential for harmonious and improving community relations. I have not only preached that policy, but practised it, in contrast to the right hon. Members for Sparkbrook and for Gorton. Both my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary and I have worked on such matters before.

The Immigration Act 1988, put through by the Home Office, tightened the controls in the way that we promised in 1987. Consideration of immigration control has been in our mind throughout this discussion, but there is another consideration that was not there in 1987, because the 1987 election was fought before the events in Tiananmen square. The further consideration is the need to keep Hong Kong going, as our last big colony, at the level of prosperity and stability that the British interests and reputation require. We have had to reconcile those two considerations.

We decided that, due to the first consideration, we could not accept the advice of the right hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Ashdown), which he repeated today, and let in all the 3.25 million British dependent territories citizens

Mr. Ashdown : We would not be letting them in.

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Mr. Hurd : --or rather, give them right of abode. We decided that that option was not compatible with our stand on immigration control. We decided that, due to the second consideration--what one might call the Tiananmen consideration--we could not say a flat no to Hong Kong. I readily agree, as my hon. Friend the Member for Wimbledon said, that a compromise has emerged in the Bill. It is criticised by some as going too far, and by others as not going far enough. I think, as did my hon. Friend, that we have probably got it about right. If we had sat back, said nothing, failed to produce a Bill, and said that it was all too difficult, and if our other policies had failed and Hong Kong had degenerated into chaos and anarchy, we might have faced a refugee problem that neither law nor administration could prevent. People could have come and claimed asylum as refugees, conceivably on a scale that would make the present measure look small.

I can understand Opposition Back Benchers who genuinely favour a massive liberalisation of our immigration laws. I have listened to them for four years. I do not agree with them, but I respect their point of view. However, why is it that the Opposition Front Benchers, having voted time and again for the relaxation of particular aspects of immigration law, oppose the Bill? Is it because the people who are being offered passports are the Queen's subjects in our last big colony, rather than citizens of an independent Commonwealth country? Surely the right hon. Member for Sparkbrook can see the difference between our attitude to them and to a Sikh wishing to come from the Punjab, the stability and prosperity of which is a matter of interest to us, but for which we do not have the responsibility that we have for those in our last big colony of Hong Kong.

Mr. Hattersley : The responsibility that I believe we have in the case that I cited is to the British woman living in Britain who has a right to be united with her husband but is denied it by the Government.

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