Eastern Europe warned on Migration
01 May 1991
Speaking at the Vienna Conference on East-West Migration organised by the Council of Europe on 25 January 1991 the Home Secretary Kenneth Baker warned Eastern Europeans that they could not expect to be admitted to Western Europe in large numbers. He complained of the numbers of asylum-seekers coming to America and Western Europe in recent years which he said, "have now reached the staggering figure of half a million a year, only a very small proportion [of which] are found to be fleeing from persecution or in need of other humanitarian attention." He went on:
The United Kingdom government supports, and is prepared to implement, firm measures to regulate flows, combat abuse, and consequently, to return those claims we find are not genuine... We are ready to discuss concerted action to achieve those goals in an appropriate international fora.