Blunkett ends passports injustice, 34 years on
Published: 3/Jul/2002
Source: The Guardian (UK)
Some 35,000 overseas British citizens who were left stateless when the 1968 Labour government closed the door on the entry of east African Asians are finally to be given the opportunity to take up full British citizenship.
The home secretary, David Blunkett, is to announce the change tomorrow in an amendment to the immigration, nationality and asylum bill. He said last night the change would “right a historic wrong” which had left stateless tens of thousands of Asian people who had worked closely with British colonial administrations.
The 35,000 people involved were given British passports as a result of the 1968 Commonwealth Immigrants Act passed by the Labour government in three days on the back of a wave of anti-immigration racism led by Enoch Powell and protesting Smithfield meat porters.
Read further on Guardian website.