ABSTRACT
The turbulent two decades of 1960s–1980s witnessed the demographic and ideological transformation of British society. The concept of education in a multicultural and multilingual British society had become central to the government's political agenda. The government's attempt to deal with the educational needs of linguistic ethnic minorities was Section 11 of the Local Government Act 1966. This piece of legislation provided for additional resources to be allocated to local authorities 'with substantial numbers of immigrants'. The nationalistic rhetoric used by Enoch Powell, Conservative Shadow Defence Spokesman, not only acted as a focus for those calling for tighter controls in immigration, it supported the common racialist sentiment against New Commonwealth immigrants. Although the Labour party in opposition fought against the first Commonwealth Immigrants Bill, once in government, its administration performed a U-turn by embracing the view that border control was essential.
