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British Nationality
[22 JULY 1981 ]
British by descent. They have a right to come to this country and live here for five years and have British citizenship other than by descent, which means that they can have children who will, again, be British citizens, possibly by descent if they are born outside the United Kingdom, or British citizens fully if they are born in this country. But that is not accorded to children of present British citizens by descent, under the terms of this Bill.
In fairness, the many privileges which Gibraltarians are receiving under the terms of this Bill, under the terms of the Treaty of Rome and under the guarantees given by this Government should be pointed out, because I do not think it has been sufficiently realised how this Bill will operate against other British citizens who are not born outside this country.
Finally, I wonder whether this amendment has really been considered seriously. Of course, it is a romantic idea and a wonderful idea that we should absorb Gibraltarians within the family and call them British citizens. But are they to be the only people in the world who will be entitled on application to be registered as British citizens, regardless of where they are born, regardless of how long they are in this country, and regardless of whether they have any connections at all with this country and whether they have ever been here? This is not a serious amendment before a legislative body and I beg to support the Government.
Lord Ferrier: I have listened to every word of this debate and I hesitate to intervene, except for one factor which has not been mentioned. There have been references to the sentimental, the political, the legal and the economic considerations which affect this issue, but nobody has mentioned the Rock itself. I rather hoped that the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Carver, would have mentioned it. I had a lifelong friendship with General Mason-McFarlane, who spent many years there during the war. But the reason why I support the amendment of my noble friend Lord Bethell is that I feel that nothing should be done which in any way weakens the bonds which bind Gibraltar to our country.
5.2 p.m.
Lord Hankey: May we have an intervention from the Cross-Benches at this time? I do not want to increase the length of the debate, but I have had a very long connection with this question, because I was sent by Mr. Bevin to Spain to make things better after the period when we had withdrawn ambassadors at the end of the war. I made it my business to go all over Spain to try to understand the Spaniards and, naturally, I went to Gibraltar and studied the problem in depth. I have retained close connections with Spain ever since, and I should like to say that I have great understanding of the Spanish point of view. But I do not think that the Spanish point of view can be taken into too much consideration in connection with the position of the Gibraltarians.
I say that because the Gibraltarians really have stood by us in very bad times indeed. I ask your Lordships not just to go back to thinking about the war, when many of them were evacuated to this country. You must think of that tiny area-I think it is not much
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more than two square miles--which has been, more or less, in a state of siege for many years. They cannot go in and out, they cannot use their passports to go to Spain and they have stood by us through thick and thin. I do not think you can afford to disregard these issues, when people are so much on your side.
If I may be rather critical, I think we were extremely hardboiled with the Maltese. They were extremely good to us in the war and I do not think we were very generous to them after the war. I saw a lot of the negotiations in the foreign service, though I was never directly mixed up in them, but I was very sad that we did not do more for the Maltese. I was not surprised that, at the end, they got a Government which was extremely tough with the United Kingdom and, for that matter, with the whole of NATO.
Gibraltar is extremely important to the United Kingdom-and I am going to change the bowling a bit now.
Only on Monday, we had a very important debate about defence, in which great attention was drawn to the Soviet pressure on this country, more particularly with submarines and missiles. I find it impossible to believe that, if the international situation got worse, we would really be talking about laying off the activity of the dockyard in Gibraltar. I believe it is extremely important that we should be able to operate in those waters, with reliable maintenance facilities. For us to disregard that at this time would be sheer folly.
We really want a loyal and fine population there, which is what we now have, but if we make them become what they consider to be second-class citizens it will be a very great mistake. We shall need in Gibraltar absolutely first-class facilities under British control, for controlling the movement of submarines through the Straits of Gibraltar. That is a strategic point of outstanding importance. I do not believe that, when the time comes, the Navy will want to relinquish that control in any way. They will need a loyal and enthusiastic population, which is what we now have, and I do not think we ought to risk it.
I always hesitate to disagree with the most distin- guished chiefs that I have had, on both sides of the House, neither of whom is here at this moment, but I find it impossible to believe that we really have to give fewer facilities to Gibraltar on account of Hong Kong. This amendment is very cunningly conceived. Gibral- tar is a part of Europe; Hong Kong is not. Gibraltar has a population of 19,000 or so; the population of Hong Kong is, I believe, 5 million. The two just are not on the same level. I find it impossible to believe that the extremely clever people that we have in the FCO and the Cabinet would not be able to draw a valid distinction on which we could stand. On all these grounds, I urge your Lordships to back this amendment. I shall certainly vote for it myself and I hope that the Government will think twice about it.
4.57 p.m.
Viscount Massereene and Ferrard: Before the noble Lord sits down, may I say that he should have given credit to Spain in the last war for refusing passage to German troops to attack Gibraltar and to close the Mediterranean, which would have prolonged the war for a long time. But I agree that, with the desence cuts,