1.
GV & SV MR. HEATH WITH INTERVIEWER (KEEP SOUND DOWN)
0.20

2.
CU HEATH REPLIES
2.30


TRANSCRIPT SEQUENCE 2: HEATH: "I WAS SPEAKING IN WALSALL ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON AS A NATIONAL LEADER, ON A SUBJECT OF GREAT NATIONAL IMPORTANCE. YOU'VE READ THE WHOLE OF THAT SPEECH--IT WAS MODERATE, IT WAS REASONABLE, AND IT WAS REALISTIC, AND I'VE DONE THE SAME THING BEFORE, AT DUNLEY, WHAT, TEN MONTHS AGO, AND AT YORK FOUR MONTHS AGO. IT'S REALLY A PITY THAT MR. WILSON AND MR. CALLAGHAN CAN'T ADOPT A SANER PITCH AND LOOK AT THESE PROPOSALS ON THEIR MERITS. YOU SEE THERE ARE A CERTAIN NUMBER COMING IN WITH WORK VOUCHERS. THE MAXIMUM CAN BE 8,500. THE PRESENT FIGURES ARE ABOUT 5,000 OR JUST OVER. BUT ONCE THESE IMMIGRANTS COME HERE, THEN THEY CAN COME AS PERMANENT RESIDENTS, AND THEN THEY CAN BRING THEIR FAMILIES LATER TO JOIN THEM. THIS IS NOT THEREFORE JUST A QUESTION OF 5,000 OR UP TO 8,500 COMING IN ANY ONE YEAR -- IT'S QUESTION LATER ON OF THE FAMILY JOINING THEM, AND TAKING UP PERMANENT RESIDENCE. NOW THE PEOPLE I WAS TALKING TO IN THE WEST MIDLANDS SAID: "WE RECOGNISE EXISTING PROBLEMS, WE'VE GOT OUR OBLIGATIONS TO IMMIGRANTS--THEIR SCHOOLING, THEIR HEALTH AND THEIR HOUSING. WE WILL DO OUR UTMOST TO COPE. WE WANT TO BE FAIR AND REASONABLE," AND I BELIEVE THIS IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE OF THOSE LIVING IN THESE AREAS. BUT WE DO NOT SEE HOW WE CAN COPE WITH MANY MORE, AND THEREFORE THEY WANT TO HAVE A CONFIDENCE THAT THE NUMBER COMING IS A PERMANENT RESIDENTS WILL NOW CEASE AND THIS IS WHAT THIS ARRANGEMENTS CAN DO. WHEN YOU ASK ABOUT THE NUMBER WHO WOULD THEM COME IN, TO WORK, WELL, THIS CAN BE SETTLED AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME. IT CAN BE NIL-OR IF THERE ARE SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS, THOSE REQUIREMENTS CAN BE MET. IT'S ABSOLUTELY AT THE DISCRETION OF THE HOME SECRETARY. BUT I MUST SAY THAT WITH UNEMPLOYMENT OF NEARLY 600,000 IN THIS COUNTRY I CAN'T REALLY SEE THAT THERE'S A JUSTIFICATION FOR UNSKILLED PEOPLE INTO THIS COUNTRY. AND INDEED FOR SOME SKILLED."



INTERVIEWER: "MAY I ASK YOU THIS, MR. HEATH. YOU WANT TO PUT COLOURED IMMIGRANTS IN THE COMMONWEALTH ON THE SAME BASIS THAT ALIENS ARE NOW?"



HEATH: "NO. I'M SAYING THERE SHOULD BE NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THOSE WHO COME FROM ANY COMMONWEALTH COUNTRY AND THOSE WHO COME FROM COUNTRIES OUTSIDE THE COMMONWEALTH."




Initials DHC/V-TELE/PW/BB



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: IN A TELEVISION INTERVIEW IN LONDON TONIGHT (MONDAY) CONSERVATIVE OPPOSITION LEADER MR. EDWARD HEATH REAFFIRMED THE "HARD STAND" HE HAS TAKEN DURING AN EARLIER WEEKEND SPEECH ON IMMIGRATION. IN HIS EARLIER SPEECH MR. HEATH HAD OUTLINED A FOUR-POINT WHEREBY COMMONWEALTH IMMIGRANTS WOULD HAVE THE SAME RIGHT OF ENTRY INTO BRITAIN AS NON-COMMONWEALTH CITIZENS, AND UNDER WHICH STRICTER SCREENING BE IMPOSED ON ALL IMMIGRANTS. TODAY THE BRITISH HOME SECRETARY, MR. JAMES CALLAGHAN, DESCRIBED MR. HEATH'S SPEECH AS "ONE OF THE MOST SHIFTY" HE HAD MADE.

IN HIS INTERVIEW TONIGHT MR. HEATH WAS ASKED TO COMMENT ON MR. CALLAGHAN'S STATEMENT. MR. CALLAGHAN HAD ALSO CLAIMED THAT ALTHOUGH MR. HEATH'S PLAN SOUGHT TO PLACE CURBS ON COMMONWEALTH IMMIGRANTS IT WOULD DO NOTHING OF THE SORT.