asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs under what statute or by what authority British subjects returning from Angola had their passports confiscated by the police.

There is no statute law on the grant and refusal of passports, which is a Royal Prerogative exercised in the United Kingdom by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. The list of categories of persons to whom passports are refused or from whom they may be withdrawn, given to the House on 15th November 1974, included those

"whose past or proposed activities are so demonstrably undesirable that the grant or continued enjoyment of passport facilities would be contrary to the public interest".