Right-wingers torpedo Thatcher bill

Press, 17 December 1982, Page 6

Right-wingers torpedo Thatcher bill

NZPA-Reuter London Mrs Margaret Thatcher's Government suffered a defeat yesterday when the Opposition combined with Right-wing politicians to throw out new immigration rules.

Rightist members of her Conservative Government rebelled against a bill that they said would have allowed a further influx of black and Asian migrants into Britain. Opposition members complained that the new law would be racially and sexually discriminating and the two combined to defeat the Government by 18 votes,, rejecting the measure 290 to 272.

The new legislation would have meant that immigrant women’ with British citizenship would have been able to bring in husbands from abroad, a right at present restricted to women born in England. The changes would have benefited Asians from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh used to the custom of arranged marriages. The Right-wing Conservative members were incensed and said that the Government was reneging on preelection promises to tighten Commonwealth immigration

curbs. Amid noisy scenes at the House of Commons after a marathon debate, the Home Secretary, Mr William Whitelaw, promised new immigration rules which would accord with the members’ wishes, as soon as possible. One of the leading Conservative rebels, Tony Marlow, said after the vote: “Every so often Governments make mistakes. It is nothing to be ashamed of."

The Labour Party’s Shadow Home Secretary, Mr Roy Hattersley, said that the Government's defeat had been caused by its attempt to buy off the racist fringe ort the Conservative backbenches.

It remains to be seen whether Mr Whitelaw will bow to the Right-wing hardliners or stick to his original proposals. Right-wing critics said that 3000 more non-whites, notably from the Indian subcontinent, would be able to settle in Britain where the coloured population totals over two million, nearly 4 per cent of the population. Mr Hattersley said that the new rules would prevent the entry into Britain of men who wanted to contract a genuine marriage.