Ugandan Asians

Lord Foster of Bath Excerpts

Thursday 6th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Don Foster)]

I begin by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for North West Cambridgeshire (Mr Vara) not only on securing the debate but on the passion with which he spoke. It is a great pleasure to respond on behalf of the Government in this commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the expulsion of the Ugandan Asians, welcoming the contribution they have made to Britain and their integration into the fabric of the nation. Like the hon. Member for Derby North (Chris Williamson), I am delighted that it has been a celebratory debate, uniting the whole House.

I am grateful for the contributions of all Members to the debate. My right hon. Friend the Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes) reminded us of the constant need to point to the huge contribution that many immigrants have made to the life of this country and that in relation to asylum seekers this must be a country that, in times of need, will not close its doors. The hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) echoed such views and spoke of the contribution of immigrants to many different aspects of life in this country, not least to our vibrant cultural life. She also rightly pointed to lessons to be learned and cited examples of legislation that did not show us at our most tolerant.

My hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman)—as he said, from the melting pot of Harrow East—praised those who came wanting to get on with it, encapsulating what is great about Britain. He reminded us of the contribution that many of the Ugandan Asians made in sports such as cricket and hockey. Above all, he made it clear, as did the hon. Member for Derby North, that Uganda’s loss was Britain’s gain.

[Bob Stewart]

Although I have not been present for the whole debate, I understand that no one has mentioned the courage of Ugandan Asian soldiers, sailors and airmen serving their new country. I want to put that on the record: thank you, Ugandan Asians.

[Mr Foster]

My hon. Friend makes his point in his usual eloquent way. I certainly support his remarks.

The hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (Dr Whiteford) celebrated the contribution of one of her constituents, Vinay, who used his energy, compassion and entrepreneurial skills for the benefit of the local community. I thank her for that example. As she pointed out, he, like many others who came, gave far more to our society than they ever received from us.

The right hon. Member for Leicester East (Keith Vaz) made his usual powerful contribution. As we celebrate his 25 years in this place, he celebrated the contribution of Ugandan Asians, not only the first generation but now the next generation—the golden generation, as he described them—to rebuilding and transforming the city of Leicester, and what they are doing and have done since that time. As he said, and I am sure he is right, the best is yet to come.

My hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West (Sir Peter Bottomley) paid tribute to the one body that has not been mentioned other than by him, the resettlement board, which certainly deserves our praise for the work it did.

[Keith Vaz]

I thank the Minister for his kind comments, but the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, the right hon. Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes), has been in the House longer than I have, and we have not had his celebration yet.

This debate is about a celebration of 40 years. Sometimes when new communities arrive, there is a tendency to criticise them and what they do when they first arrive. Is there not a lesson about the way in which we use language when new communities arrive? I am thinking about the east European community, which, over the past eight years since accession, has made such a great contribution to this country, but there are still criticisms of it. We need to be careful because at the end of the day, the contribution can be seen.

[Mr Foster]

I absolutely agree. A similar point was made earlier by my right hon. Friend the Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark.

The hon. Member for Wolverhampton South West (Paul Uppal) described his own family’s experience coming here, wanting choice, freedom and opportunity, and pointed out that when they got here they used them to full advantage, making, as he described it, a phenomenal contribution. The hon. Member for Feltham and Heston (Seema Malhotra) described the ongoing contribution that Ugandan Asians are making in her constituency, and her pride in Britain’s compassion and the welcome that was given then and which we continue to give to incoming immigrants.

Looking back over the past 40 years to those fateful months in 1972, we know that the United Kingdom acted swiftly. Idi Amin announced on 4 August 1972 that there was no room in Uganda for British Asians. By 18 September the first 193 British Asians from Uganda arrived at Stansted airport, and in the first year, 1972-73, a total of 38,500 Ugandans Asians came to Britain. Even in that initial period we saw the seeds of the ongoing success of the British Ugandan Asians. By mid-November 1972 more than 1,000 employers had already offered jobs to the newcomers.

Many people have been praised today but we should not forget the work of Praful Patel, then secretary of the all-party committee on United Kingdom citizenship and now a key organiser of the 40th anniversary events this year, who, following the expulsion of the Ugandan Asians, became a member of the Uganda resettlement board, which has been mentioned, and was involved at an individual level, helping thousands of families to mend separated and broken lives. There are success stories everywhere. The hon. Member for North West Cambridgeshire is one of them, as is my hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel). Lata Patel was the mayor of Brent back in 1996, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is a well respected journalist and author, Rupal Rajani is a BBC journalist. Mohammed Asif Din played cricket for Warwickshire, and Tarique Ghaffur CBE QPM was an assistant Commissioner at the Met police. There are many others who could be mentioned.

Only a day ago I had a letter from a successful British Ugandan Asian who wrote:

“The lessons learnt show that with compassion, decency and understanding an impoverished community can come to the UK and grow, thrive and in time be big contributors to UK society and the UK economy.”

I want to acknowledge the immense courage of the former Prime Minister Edward Heath and his Government back in 1972. I must mention, of course, the generous response that the British people made to help Ugandan Asian refugees as they settled in the United Kingdom. As my hon. Friend the Member for North West Cambridgeshire said, it was a time when Britain was at its best.

I want briefly to put the debate in the context of this Government’s work on integration or, as my hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West would prefer to call it, inclusiveness. We are doing what we can to live up to our responsibility to create greater confidence among those who come to this country, encouraging greater responsibility, promoting more activities and opportunities for personal and social development and at the same time giving help, support and guidance. We are running some 30-odd projects to assist in that area to promote social mobility—for example, working with leading figures in the British Asian cuisine industry to offer young people chef scholarships.

We are also working with private sector partners in the business world to inspire young people through our enterprise challenge and industrial cadet projects. To promote participation in our communities and responsibility to each other and society, we are supporting Youth United so that over 10,000 more young people from all backgrounds can come together as part of national movements such as the scouts and the police cadets. We continue to provide support for English language tuition.

In 1997, recognising the vitality lost to Uganda, President Museveni invited Ugandan Asians to return home. Some families returned, but most chose to remain in Britain. Those families have integrated into UK life and are one of this country’s biggest integration success stories. Later this year and next year a number of commemorative events will take place, including a thanksgiving event at Leicester cathedral and various dinners in London.

I end by praising my hon. Friend the Member for North West Cambridgeshire for securing the debate, which has allowed us to remember properly the events of 1972, recognise the contribution of British Ugandan Asians and welcome their integration into the fabric of the nation. A number of commemorative events are still to be held over the next few months, and I urge all Members of the House to participate in them enthusiastically.