London, 16 November 1972
Secret
The Prime Minister has read the leading article in today’s Daily Express about the immigration arrangements for people coming from Australia, New Zealand and Canada. 1
He recognises that an immediate change being made does in fact relax the immigration restrictions on Commonwealth citizens, in that it allows exceptional treatment for those whose mothers were British subjects as well as for those whose fathers were British subjects. But the forthcoming change in treatment of people coming from Europe highlights the restrictions now applied to ‘kith and kin’, and we must expect further damaging criticism of this kind to occur.
The Prime Minister would be grateful if the Home Secretary could let him have, by close of play tomorrow, a full statement of the present position on immigration restrictions on Commonwealth citizens, and particularly of citizens from Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
He would also be grateful for a precise account of the immigration rules for people coming from the European Community, which he understands are to be announced next week.
He would be grateful if the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary could at the same time let him have a note of the immigration arrangements applied by the Governments concerned to British citizens going to Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The Prime Minister thinks that the Cabinet may wish to have an opportunity .of reconsidering the immigration rules at present applicable to Commonwealth subjects, to see whether the principle of non-discrimination between one country and another which now applies should be maintained in its present form.
I believe that the Home Secretary is expecting to make a statement on these matters next week. The Prime Minister thinks that, in view of the Daily Express article, the Home Secretary should seriously consider bringing his statement forward; indeed, as I told you over the telephone earlier in the day, he hopes that the Secretary of State will consider the possibility of making a statement today. […]
1 ‘Make way for our friends Mr Heath, or reap the whirlwind’, Daily Express 16 November 1972.
[UKNA: FCO 24/1315]