Abstract
There has been a significant contrast in the way race relations and immigration issues have been managed during the two administrations led by Mrs Thatcher. When the Conservatives were elected to office in May 1979 they were committed to a large number of specific commitments to tighten immigration controls. They had also promised a fundamental reform of the citizenship and nationality laws. These initiatives meant that race and immigration policy would play a major role in the first Thatcher administration. The furious outbursts of anti-police violence in inner-city areas in 1980 and 1981largely, but not wholly, perpetrated by young blacks meant that race relations, particularly police-community relations would play an even more central role. By the time the second Thatcher administration took office in May 1983 the Conservative leaders seem to have decided to play down race relations and immigration and to avoid allowing them to remain a prominent area of decision making and conflict.
Keywords
Immigration Policy Race Relation Select Committee Home Affair Conservative PartyPreview
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Notes
- 1. T. Russell. The Tory Party (Penguin. 1978). p.ll7 states Mrs Thatcher had a hard line and unsympathetic attitude towards the coloured community.Google Scholar
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