It was called The last Great Exodus from the UK. Displaced Britons from the war, whose lives were uprooted by The Blitz and destruction of most of the industrial cities throughout England, sought new lives in other areas of the world which were considered all part of the British Empire at the time.
The period after 1945 saw an increase both in levels of migration into Britain and government involvement. World War Two, like World War One, had forced Britain to call upon the men and women of her colonial empire to join the ‘mother country’ in fighting Britain’s enemies. The government facilitated increased migration and encouraged colonial people after the war to take jobs that could not be filled by British people. People from the West Indies, for instance, were recruited in both the transport services and for the new National Health Service. At the beginning of the century, if you could prove you were born within the British Empire you could claim full nationality rights in Britain.
This act conferred the status of British citizen on all Commonwealth subjects and recognized their right to work and settle in the UK and to bring their families with them.
Resentment towards new Commonwealth and Empire migrants increased during the 1950s. In 1959 there were race riots on the streets of Nottingham and Notting Hill, West London. Gangs of white youths were blamed for starting the riots; a London judge sentenced them to four years in prison, saying: ‘you savagely attacked peaceful citizens’.
The government started to panic about the reaction of the public to West Indian immigrants, and in 1962 decided that the Commonwealth Immigrants Act should be introduced to cut down the flow of migrants, especially from the West Indies and South Asia.
In this episode of the BBC World Service program London Forum the issue is discussed by several observers and offered opinions on the merits of such a Migration policy and what shortcomings could be envisioned. The policy was, in addition to Australia, encouraging British citizens to consider migrating to Canada as well as Rhodesia.
All seemed workable until the early 1960s when many of the former Commonwealth nations (i.e. Colonies) achieving independence thus forcing the British government to revise the migration plan and introduce restrictions, especially to those coming into Britain.
Here is that discussion, as it was heard via Shortwave on November 27, 1950.
