Rights statement: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Immigrants and Minorities on 03 November 2016, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02619288.2016.1241712.
Accepted author manuscript, 513 KB, PDF document
Available under license: CC BY-NC: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
| <mark>Journal publication date</mark> | 3/11/2016 |
|---|---|
| <mark>Journal</mark> | Immigrants and Minorities |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Volume | 35 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-20 |
| Publication Status | Published |
| <mark>Original language</mark> | English |
The 1971 Immigration Act constitutes the most important piece of legislation for the regulation of immigration to Britain. Many assume that the Act was simply a further extension of the restrictive measures established over the post-war period to end non-white immigration. Based on original archival material, I argue that the Act was established in reaction to the dilemma the government faced as a result of joining the European Economic Community and the free movement of workers against Commonwealth migrants. The Act represents the final dismantling of universal Commonwealth citizenship and, in this sense, a definitive acceptance of the end of the Empire.