A fundamental provision of the bill is that in future British citizenship should be equated with the right of abode in the UK and should be limited to people with a close personal connection with the UK. This is a major erosion of the present rights of Hong Kong CUKCs: they will lose the "United Kingdom and" portion of their present citizenship. Although there is no practical significance in this in terms of right of abode in the UK, the change has political and psychological implications. Sir S. Y. Chung has represented strongly that this fact must be brought to the attention of Ministers.
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B
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The bill could be amended along the lines of Annex B so as to include Hong Kong and other dependencies in British citizenship. For the reasons given in paragraph 5 above this would represent a major amend - ment to the principles of the bill. The practical politics of the situation and the political mood in the UK are such that any attempt to include any or all of the dependencies in British citizenship would probably be impossible to achieve.
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However there has been a development since the bill was published. An amendment has been proposed to clause 46 of the bill to add Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands and St Helena to the definition of "the Islands" so as to bring them within the definition of "the United Kingdom". It is not certain what chances this amendment may have in Committee though it is believed likely to fail. There is a majority of 2 for the Government in the Committee, but this amendment has been moved by a Conservative back-bencher who will presumably vote for it. If he is able to acquire the support of one other Conservative member then the amendment might be carried. Although it is likely that it would be negatived at the Report Stage in the House of Commons, the outcome is not certain. If it were not and it remained part of the bill it would be seriously detrimental to Hong Kong's interests and, even if it were only to stand between the Committee and Report stages, might create adverse publicity and concern within Hong Kong.
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It is therefore for consideration whether Hong Kong should seek to have the words "Hong Kong" added to the amendment and if so how this should be done. It seems virtually certain that if such an amendment were proposed it would fail in Committee. If it should pass then the Government would have to negative the proposal at the Report Stage. Therefore any chance of Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands and St Helena being separated from the CBDT category would disappear.
G.S. 166
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