Registry
No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret,
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
In Confidence
DRAFT
To:-
CCAFIONNZIAL
with HKK3
ніка знов
Type 1 +
From
Telephone No. Ext.
Department
SUMMARY OF OBJECTIONS FROM DEPENDENT TERRITORIES
1. Strong objections to a British Overseas Citizenship for people connected with them have been received from Gibraltar, Hong Kong, and the Falkland Islands. Each has maintained it is a special case in that it is not able to achieve independence in the foreseeable future and that its people should not have a different status from that held by people born, or whose parent was born, in the United Kingdom. The objections have the full support of the respective Governors
and the Faihdam Iunm and the Governors of Hong Kong, in particular hasehimself argue against a separate citizenship for those not connected with th United Kingdom. Specifically:
a) the Govt and Opposition parties in Gibraltar have strongly pressed for their people to be granted British Citizenship. They argue that their position vis-a-vis
the Spanish Govt will be weakened if it appears their links with the United Kingdom are being weakened; moreover they belong to the EEC and have the right of entry into all EEC countries, includeng the United Kingd for work purposes,
b) influential Chinese members of the Legislation and Executive Councils of Hong Kong consider that because the majority of the "overseas citizens of the territory the proposal for a British Overseas Citizenship is aimed mainly at them. They resent the present United Kingdom immigration control and have argued that to alter the citizenship of people connected with Hong Kong will be seen as further weakening of their ties with the United Kingdom; change will be strongly resented, will severely strain Hong Kong/United Kingdom relations and will possibly lead to a fall in business confidence.
c) members of the Legislative Council of the Falkland
CONFIDENTIAL
Dd 0532000 800M 5/78 HMSO Bracknell
/Islands