1971 - 1985

1971 Immigration Act divided UK passport holders into patrials and non-patrials. Patrials had a British-born parent or grandparent and were free from immigration control. Non-patrials were subject to immigration control and needed an entry certificate or a work permit to enter the country. Asian refugees expelled by Ugandan president Idi Amin arrived at Stansted airport.

1972 500 Asian workers began strike at Mansfield hosiery mills, Loughborough, claiming they were barred from the best-paid knitting jobs. Trade union movement accussed of 'indifference to race relations.'

1973 National Front received 16.3% of vote in West Bromwich by-election.

1974 Women with rights of entry given right to bring husbands and fiances to the UK. A bleak report found failings at every stage in preparing young black people for adult life in Britain. Figures show twice as many blacks as whites jobless. David Pitt becomes first black chairman of the Greater London Council.

1975 Government reduced entry vouchers from 20,000 to 8,500 per annum.

1976 Race Relations Act established Commission for Racial Equality 'to tackle racial discrimination and promote racial equality'.

June 1976 Gurdip Singh Chaggar stabbed in Southall. Head of Scotland Yard dismissed racism as a motive.

1978 Margaret Thatcher: 'People are really rather afraid that this country might be rather swamped by people with a different culture...'

1979 Illegal 'virginity tests' carried out on Asian women entering the country at Heathrow.

1980 Immigration rules changed to restrict non-patrial British women from bringing a foreign-born husband or fiance into the UK. A police raid on the Black and White Cafe in Bristol triggered one of the worst riots in Britain since World War II

1981 British Nationality Act brought nationality law into line with immigration law and established three categories of British citizenship. British citizenship was restricted to those born in UK, patrial, naturalised or settled in the UK for five years. Citizens were not subject to immigration control. Citizens of British Dependent Territories were born in or had a parent born in a British colony and had citizenship rights in that colony only. British Overseas citizens held British passports but had no citizenship rights in the UK

January 1981 In the biggest black demonstration yet seen in Britain, 15,000 people marched in London to protest press indifference to black deaths.

April 1981 The Metropolitan Police launched Operation Swamp 81 to tackle burglary and robbery in Brixton. In six days, officers stoppen 943 people and arrested 118. Anger erupted following the arrest of a black youth. Violence continued for two days.

July 1981 Violent disturbances shook Liverpool's Toxteth for four nights. Police regained control only after administering CS gas for the first time in British history. Violent disturbances erupted across the UK following upset in Liverpool. One thousand people besieged the police station at Moss Side, Manchester, and new riots erupted in Brixton.

1985 PC Keith Blakelock killed during violence in Handsworth and Broadwater Farm , London. Government applied additonal Visa requirements for visitors from Sri Lanka.