1.3 Immigration Britain 1945-79

• British Nationality Act marked the start of significant change for both national and racial immigration


  1948
• Citizen of the United Kingdom and colonies


  New status that citizenship could be acquired if you were part of the colonies
• The British Nationality Act of 1948 reaffirmed the status of 'old' Commonwealth immigrants to citizenship, with significant figures for arrival numbers until the early 1970s
• HMS Windrush was the first boat to carry over 1000 immigrants from Jamaica to the UK


  January 1948
• Immigrants from the Windrush


  • Brought Caribbean culture, art, sports, dances, games and spices, which culturally enriched the UK
  • Faced racial discrimination and difficulty finding work in rural areas, so had to move into cheaper, smaller housing in large cities, which made significant changes to cities across the country to become more diverse
• The scale of new commonwealth immigration was highly significant as over 472,000 migrants came to England from 1955-62, with over 70,000 each year in the 1960s and 70s
• The main areas of immigration came from the Caribbean
• New commonwealth immigration


  Changed attitudes towards immigration in various ways, such as positive cultural influences, through to the reaction of the race riots in 1958, and the media attention these provoked
• Government policies placed increasing restrictions on potential immigrants later in the period, e.g. the 'grandfather clause' of the 1968 Act, or the loss of Commonwealth immigrants automatic right to remain in 1971
• Racial tensions developed to be a major issue in the late 1950s and 1960s, ex: The race riots of 1958, Enoch Powell's speech in 1968
• The official response to racial tensions also had major developments, The race relations acts helped to prevent racial discrimination in housing, and establishing the committee for racial equality
• Britain continued to support immigration throughout the period because of a need for workers and the effects of outward migration
• Mainstream political opinion continued to promote integration and prevent discrimination, e.g. the Colonial Secretary successfully argued against discriminatory restrictions in the mid-1950s, and the Race Relations Acts
• Changes in legislation across the period barely affected 'white' immigration, e.g. Irish people were exempt from the 1962 Act
• Britain continued to acknowledge ties to the former colonies even after restriction on immigration had been tightened, e.g. over 25,000 Ugandan Asians were allowed entry after fleeing Idi Amin's rule in Uganda
• Integration of communities continued to be limited across the period, when seen by yardsticks such as low levels of interracial marriage or the effective segregation of immigrant communities