Immigration

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 6:24 pm on 4 December 1979.

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Photo of Sir Ronald Bell Sir Ronald Bell , Beaconsfield 6:24, 4 December 1979

Of course there is something genetically different about them. One gets one's genes from one's parents, not one's place of birth. This is a preposterous illusion nurtured by many Labour Members who believe that where one is born decides what one is—in other words, a kitten born in a kipper box is a kipper. That is too ridiculous for words. All these matters are psychological.

A slow change is a beneficial change, but the sort of change that we have seen in the last 18 years is cataclysmic. In London that rate of change cannot be tolerated if people are to continue to feel a sense of history and destiny.