CONFIDENTIAL
Cortitution The
governments
hould be given a Chance to consider
their position before the pub-
lication of HMG's proposals.
Į
.d. Rhodesia
Publication of the proposals this winter would be untimely. Although they would benefit from the provisions for maintaining the entry rights of those who now have them, many of the estimated 155,000 CUKCs and citizens of Rhodesia, who at present have the right to come to this country, would believe that the proposals were designed to close the door to them. This could lead them
to decide to leave Rhodesia in large numbers.
2. Associated States
Their Governments may consider it inappropriate at this stage in their constitutional development that the British Parliament should legislate for their
inhabitants to become British Overseas Citizens from
the date of coming into force of the new Act, which is unlikely to be before late 1979. They may prefer to activate the dormant citizenship clauses of their own
3. "Old"Members of the Commonwealth
a. Australia and New Zealand
People of British origin in these countries have strong ties of family and blood with the United Kingdom and resent being treated in the same way
as Commonwealth citizens elsewhere who have no
such ties. The proposals would tend to weaken links which are important to us commercially, professionally, socially and in other ways, and would be interpreted as further evidence of a tendency for Britain to become more narrowly
nationalistic in its outlook and attitudes.
Those who become British Citizens would particularly
resent their inability under the proposals to acquire Australian citizenship without loss of their British Citizenship. Any failure to preserve the present arrangement, whereby a Commonwealth citizen, one of whose grandparents was born in the United Kingdom, can readily enter the United Kingdom for employment, would cause concern. The then High Commissioner in Australia, when con- sulted a year ago, was highly critical of the proposal to deprive British Citizens of that status when they acquire Australian Citizenship. CONFIDENTIAL
/He
7447 1073840 101M 8/74 Cr.P.C. 839/3
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