Registry No.
Letter
DRAFT
CONFIDENTIAL
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret,
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
To:-
DH J Hilary Esq
Home Office
Lunar House
40 Wellesley Road CROYDON CR9 2BY
In Confidence
Type 1 +
From
Mr Figg
Telephone No. Ext.
Department
DSR 11
NATIONALITY BILL
1.
Thank you for your letter of 19 September to Donald
Murray enclosing a note on categories of citizenship and
nomenclature for Donald's use on his visit to Hong Kong.
20
I realise that you intended the paper to set out the Home
Office view on this subject unambiguously. Equally, I am sure
that you will refaise that we do not see eye to eye with you
on several points. For example, as we see it, the defence for
an overtly 3-category system would not have to rest mainly on
the position of Hong Kong, as you said, nor even on the
dependencies generally. Many contributors to the debate who
have produced their own schemes for a new nationality bill
have advocated a separate status for belongers of existing
dependencies, whatever they have called it. If the new
legislation were to do this it could be presented as logical
and natural and I do not see why it should encounter much doubt
or criticism. The fact is that the scheme as at present
drafted is a 3-category one, with two of the categories,,
though giving different rights clear for all to see, give the
same title.
3. We do not think that we are, or should feel, limited to
the choice of titles mentioned in your paper for the
categories in a 3-category system.
However, there is no advantage in pursuing all these
points here until Donald Murray has returned from Hong Kong.
4.
Dd 0532000 800M 5178 HMSO Bracknell
We
CONFIDENTIAL