"Well now, look, let us try and start with a few figures as far as we know them, and I am the first to admit it is not easy to get clear figures from the Home Office about immigration, but there was a committee which looked at it and said that if we went on as we are then by the end of the century there would be four million people of the new Commonwealth or Pakistan here. Now, that is an awful lot and I think it means that people are really rather afraid that this country might be rather swamped by people with a different culture and, you know, the British character has done so much for democracy, for law and done so much throughout the world that if there is any fear that it might be swamped people are going to react and be rather hostile to those coming in. So, if you want good race relations, you have got to allay peoples' fears on numbers. Now, the key to this was not what Keith Speed said just a couple of weeks ago. It really was what Willie Whitelaw said at the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton, where he said we must hold out the clear prospect of an end to immigration because at the moment it is about between 45,000 and 50,000 people coming in a year. Now, I was brought up in a small town, 25,000. That would be two new towns a year and that is quite a lot. So, we do have to hold out the prospect of an end to immigration except, of course, for compassionate cases. Therefore, we have got to look at the numbers who have a right to come in. There are a number of United Kingdom passport holders—for example, in East Africa—and what Keith and his committee are trying to do is to find out exactly how we are going to do it; who must come in; how you deal with the compassionate cases, but nevertheless, holding out the prospect of an end to immigration."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Prime Ministers of the United KingdomPoliticians from EnglandBritish peersWomen academics from EnglandChemists from England
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
TV Interview for World in Action (Granada, 27 January 1978). Transcript online at the Margaret Thatcher Foundation
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Related Quotes
"I think they've made the biggest financial mess that any government's ever made in this country for a very long time,…"
"We in Europe have watched with admiration the burgeoning of this mighty American economy. There is a new mood in the …"
"The principle that adequate health care should be provided for all, regardless of ability to pay, must be the foundat…"
"In this country over the last five years pay has doubled, whereas output has slightly fallen. That is totally differe…"
"I count myself among those politicians who operate from conviction. For me, pragmatism is not enough. Nor is that fas…"
"It may be the cock that crows, but it is the hen that lays the eggs."
"Our opponents like to try and make you believe that Conservatism is a privilege of the few. But Conservatism conserve…"
"Oh, those poor shopkeepers!"
"It is not our policy to suppress success."
"We had to make certain that violence and intimidation and impossible demands could not win. There would have been nei…"