London, 29 February 1972
Confidential
Immigration and Australia
[…]
2. It is obviously unfortunate that EEC nationals wishing to work in Britain will in due course be able to do so without let or hindrance, whereas citizens of Commonwealth countries with similar desires will continue to be subject to a very tight immigration control. The Australians, on past form, will no doubt make the biggest fuss of all, but if and when the situation becomes public knowledge some snide remarks will probably be made in other parts of the Commonwealth—at least in the local press if not by the Governments themselves about this discrimination in favour of EEC nationals. All too likely the old cries of ‘racial discrimination’ will be heard in the developing Commonwealth countries, particularly the West Indies, where there is a genuine interest in migrating to Britain. However, there seems no escape from the inevitable consequences of our entering EEC. It is really no consolation that the few lucky citizens of other Commonwealth countries who manage to obtain permission to come over here to work can then enjoy civic rights such as the right to vote, whereas these rights will continue to be denied to EEC nationals—in the past, Ministers have made much of these civic rights but frankly I don’t think they really cut much if any ice overseas in the Commonwealth.
3. For what it is worth, when I was dealing with Commonwealth Immigration shortly after the new controls were introduced some 10 years ago and more, there was a considerable row stemming from complaints by Australians that they were having to queue up behind aliens at the various points of entry (sea and air). As far as I can recollect this was taken up by some people over here and the result was that there was at least one visit by a Minister from the then CRO to London Airport to try and sort the matter out. It all seemed pretty childish at the time but there was no overlooking the fact that individual Australians entering this country for whatever purpose felt extremely strongly on the subject of being apparently classed with aliens rather than with UK citizens, as had been the practice before the Commonwealth immigration controls were imposed.
[UKNA:FC0 24/1312]