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T LA Daunt Esq SED
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Mr Martin
Mr Culver
Pr. diss རི་ཏ་
INDEX
PERSONAL & CONFIDENTIAL
From: His Excellency General Sir William Jackson. G.BE., K.C.B. M.C., Governor and
Commander-in-Chief
CONVENT,
THE
GIBRALTAR.
Copied
HKK-340/1
RECEIVED IN REMETRY NO. 51
16 FEB06łuary 1987
64-A
to NTD
HKGD
Hegert Advisers
бле
DESK OFFICER
PA
REGISTRY Action Taken
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GIBRALTAR:
reply ater moltat with to the
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BRITISH NATIONALITY BILL
Legal Kinzer.
1 I understand that a further look is being given to the case for granting British Citizenship to CUKC deriving that citizen- ship from a connection with Gibraltar in the new Nationality Bill or making other changes in the Bill which might meet their concerns, in the light of the representations which Ministers have received through Members of Parliament in recent weeks and the views expressed during the Second Reading debate in the Commons.
possible
•
2 As Governor I welcome this. I have considerable sympathy with the Gibraltarian point of view. In analysing the changes that could be made there seem to be two options. The first and most favoured by the Gibraltarians is that Gibraltar belongers should be made British Citizens, on the grounds (amongst others) that the status of a European Community national ought to go with a single citizenship as far as the United Kingdom is concerned. That change would require no more than the addition of the words "and Gibraltar" to the definition of the "United Kingdom" in Section 46 (1) of the Bill, after "the Islands", and the deletion of Gibraltar from Schedule 6. The second change, which is of interest to Gibraltar only if the call for British Citizenship is not met, depends upon whether HM Government is prepared to accept the view expressed in the House that a generalized citizenship for all Dependent Territories is wrong, and that individual citizenships should be granted to each territory. This option has certain weighty arguments in its favour to which I come later, but it would not provide a statutory right to the people of Gibraltar to settle in the United Kingdom going beyond the rights they already have as EC nationals, which many of them maintain they need as a safeguard against a possible, however remote, transfer of Gibraltar to Spain. There is also perhaps a third option, to give the people of Gibraltar some special right to become British Citizens. This is very much a personal idea of the Chief Minister's, and he is still at work on it. I will describe his preliminary ideas below.
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