Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968
1968 UK law restricting Commonwealth and British citizen immigration.
The Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968 changed UK law by expanding the 1962 Act's restrictions. It limited the right to live in Britain for certain British citizens, granting entry only to those born in the UK or with a parent or grandparent born there. This further reduced the ability of Commonwealth citizens to migrate to the United Kingdom.
Quick Facts
- Parliament
- Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Citation
- 1968 c. 9
- Territorial extent
- United Kingdom
- Royal assent
- 1 March 1968
- Commencement
- 1 March 1968 (except sections 3 and 5), 1 June 1968 (sections 3 and 5)
- Repeal date
- 1 January 1973
- Related legislation
- Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962
- Repealing legislation
- Immigration Act 1971
Facts from the source article.
Impact
The act was introduced amid fears that up to 200,000 Kenyan Asians, fleeing Kenya's Africanization policy, would exercise their right to reside in the UK. Ethnically Indian Africans in British African colonies had been allowed to retain British citizenship to avoid statelessness. The bill passed through parliament in three days, backed by the leadership of both the governing Labour and main opposition Conservative parties, though opposed by some Labour backbenchers, a few Conservatives such as Iain Macleod and Michael Heseltine, and the small parliamentary Liberal Party.
Aftermath
Subsequent reforms of immigration law from the Commonwealth showed that HM Government's view on immigration was changing. As Commonwealth states achieved independence and the British Empire ceased to be a reality, the Government decided a more restrictive approach was necessary. Hundreds of thousands of African, Asian, and Caribbean immigrants arrived by other methods, including through Europe and without immigration visas. The 1968 Act was superseded by the Immigration Act 1971. Released cabinet papers under the 30-year rule revealed the legislation was intentionally aimed at coloured immigrants, and the cabinet had received legal advice that the bill would breach international law. Home Secretary James Callaghan proposed emergency legislation at a special cabinet committee on 13 February 1968, with minutes noting the Bill might be presented as the government giving way to racial prejudice.
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