applicant must show that he/she can be maintained and accommodated without falling a burden on public funds; (d) The Immigration Act 1988 has repealed section 1 (5) of the Immigration Act 1971. Section 1 (5) stated that "the Rules shall be so framed that Commonwealth citizens settled in the United Kingdom at the coming into force of this Act and their wives and children are not ... any less free to come into and go from the United Kingdom than if this Act had not been passed". (The Act came into force on 1 January 1973.) The purpose of this provision was to protect the position of Commonwealth citizens who were already settled in the United Kingdom when the 1971 Act came into force. It is acknowledged that the reference to wives was discriminatory. It meant that the wives of such Commonwealth citizens but not their husbands were exempt from the normal marriage tests (see above). An alternative way of removing the discrimination would have been to extend the exemption to husbands. The view was taken, however, that the time had come for all spouses equally to have to meet the requirements of the normal marriage rules. The drafting of section 1 (5) had not made it clear whether it was intended to cover only those wives and children already settled on 1 January 1973, or to extend the rule to the future wives and children of Commonwealth men settled in the United Kingdom on that date, some of whom were children at the time. The latter more generous interpretation was followed by the Government in the years following the 1971 Act. This interpretation, combined witth the passage of 15 years, was felt, by 1988, to have honoured the spirit of section 1 (5). The Government considered that the time was now ripe to provide fair and equal 
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing immigration policies and their historical development, specifically the repeal of a section of the Immigration Act 1971 and the changes made to marriage tests. The language used is formal and official, suggesting a government or administrative context. The text does not mention economic or environmental issues, but rather focuses on the rights and restrictions of individuals.

**Category**
Immigration, Employment