The Commonwealth Immigrants Act of 1968 furthered restrictions on migration to Britain that had been in place from 1962. The Act was introduced in response to fears of Kenyan Asian migration to Britain and was met with broad cross-party support in Parliament. The Act made distinctions between Commonwealth citizens implicitly on the grounds of race, since it negatively impacted Commonwealth citizens of Asian descent but not those of white British descent.

In the following extract from a Common’s debate on the Commonwealth Immigrants Bill of 1968, it is made explicitly clear that migration of British colonial subjects and subjects of British Protectorates of Asian heritage was the rationale for immigration controls under the 1962 Act and the respective bill that was put before parliament 1968:

“I should like to come to the circumstances underlying the 1962 Act, because Parliament was then legislating for an entirely different situation from the present situation. However, if I can develop the argument in my own way, I shall return to the point later.

I was dealing with the question of hasty or panic legislation. I should like to put the House in possession of some of the facts. A steady number of Asians—we do not know exactly how many—were arriving in this country from East Africa during 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1966. The real increase in the flow did not begin until last summer, following the passage of the Kenya Immigration Act and the Trade Licensing Act. When the Kenya Government put these Measures on the Statute Book, emigration from Kenya began to increase and the British Government, because of the nature of the statistics, quickly became aware of what was taking place. Therefore, last October, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations visited Kenya for a number of purposes, one of which was to discuss with President Kenyatta the consequences of this emigration.

It would not be proper for me, of course, to go into the details of that conversation, but I am entitled to say that my right hon. Friend specifically raised this question months ago with the Kenya Government. It is also fair for me to say that when he returned he concluded that the Kenya Government’s policy towards the Asians who had been born and bred in that country was based on decisions that had been firmly taken by them and which did not seem open to question.

However, so far from acting in panic, the British Government still did not take action at that time—some people might say their action was belated; I would not accept that—although the Government began to prepare for legislation which they held in reserve hoping that wiser counsels would prevail and that changes in the situation would make it unnecessary for Parliament to legislate. I believe it was right to have this delay, to try to allow wiser counsels to prevail, for people to have second thoughts, and not to act in a panic, as we certainly have not done. But unfortunately that hope did not materialise. The flow of immigrants continued and, after a slight hesitation, increased substantially.

Finally, as the House will know, Mr. Malcolm Macdonald paid a further visit to Kenya 10 days ago, before we introduced legislation, but he was unable to find any ground upon which we could base the hope of any developments that would make this legislation unnecessary, for example, by reducing the flow of immigrants to the kind of level that had previously proved capable of absorption. The Government, therefore, are not proposing legislation in haste. They have held their hand for many months.

I come to the background of the immigration control introduced by the 1962 Act. The Home Secretary of the day was Lord Butler. I have read his speech and most of the debates which followed. What was the objective of the 1962 Bill? Lord Butler was quite clear. He told us what the objective was, and it was not what a number of commentators think it was. He said that the objective of the Bill was to exempt from immigration control—here I quote his words:

“person who in common parlance belong to the United Kingdom”.

That was his intention. I beg very great leave to doubt whether at that time in 1961– 62 Parliament’s eyes were fixed on what the situation might be in the event of Kenya or other countries securing independence at a later date. If, as I believe, it was the objective of the 1962 Act to control everyone except those who, “in common parlance belong to the United Kingdom”, it was not achieved. So it is that we have the present position. I think it is partly that the size and nature of the problem which could arise was not fully appreciated in 1962, and partly in consequence of independence Acts since then, that there has been a substantial increase in the arrival of a large number of holders of United Kingdom passports who do not, “in common parlance belong” to this country. Lord Butler was quite clear about what he meant by “belonging to this country”. He meant people who were born and lived here—I am interpreting his words, but I hope that hon. Members will read the debates if they have not done so—large numbers of citizens whose ancestors had been born here, whose forebears were born here, and who had lived here for a number of years. Those were the very people whom the Bill was to exempt from immigration control.”

Check out: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1968/feb/27/commonwealth-immigrants-bill