Deported
Letter from British Home Office
HOME OFFICE
James Metcalf Esq. September 28, 1988
Thank you for your letter of 22 September withdrawing your request to live in the U. K. as a businessman and informing us that you intend to leave the U. K. by the end of October. You also spoke to my colleague M Knight on 23 September when you said that your property in Motherwell had been sold and that it was your intention to leave the U. K. on or before 15 October to take up residence in Boston.
You will recall that in my letter of 8 August I said that in view of the Home Secretary's decision that your presence in this country was not conductive to the public good that you had no right to re-enter this country should you leave in the meantime. As you had urgent commitments overseas made prior to the service of the notice on 5 August and wished to collect material for presentation to the advisory panel it was agreed that on that instance that you would be allowed to re-enter for the sole purpose of making representations to the panel. In the event, on your return to the U. K. on 15 September you were granted temporary admission.
However, you have now said that you intend to voluntarily leave the U. K. permanently by 15 October and this change of circumstance alters the position. Under section 3(5) of the Immigration Act 1971, a deportation order can only be made against a person who is present in the United Kingdom and the purpose of the order is to effect that person's departure. There is no legal basis on which a deportation order can be made if a person has already left the United Kingdom and if there can be no deportation order there is no basis for the advisory panel to render advice to the Home Secretary. Under section 13(5) of the Act, there is no right of appeal against the Home Secretary's personal decision that a person should be excluded from the United Kingdom on the ground that his exclusion is conducive to the public good.
The consequence of this is that if you leave the United Kingdom voluntarily the advisory panel cannot be convened. The advisory panel meets for immigration control purposes, not as a general forum for other purposes, and if there is no immigration control aspect to be considered it has no locus to meet.
You asked in your letter of 22 September if the panel could meet before the end of October but no date for the hearing can be fixed until we have your representations against the Home Secretary's decision. Your letter promises a first brief will be mailed before your departure and it therefore follows that no date can yet be fixed for a hearing.
You will wish to consider your position further in the light of this letter and perhaps you will let me know whether you still intend to leave the UK voluntarily as stated in your letter and subsequent telephone call. If you wish to discuss this further, I am of course available on the above number.
S SPENCE