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British Nationality
[THE LORD Chancei lor.]
[LORDS]
not be in doubt, whether this Bill passes through Parliament or not.
He would have at least two titles
to British citizenship; I think by birth under Clause 1 and by descent under Clause 2, on the facts which he has stated.
But it is true, of course, that the class, by reference to which the two classes of persons are designated, is a class of one member only, and that Gibraltar. But the matter is put forward by the amendment, not because of Gibraltar but by reason of Gibraltar being a member of a particular class of dependency, on two conditions; one, that we are responsible for its external relations and one, that it is a European dependency. That is the only ground of principle upon which the amendment is based and once that has been said it seems to me that the amendment has been made wholly indefensible in principle. There is and there can be no reason whatever by reason of Article 227(4) entitling Gibral- tarians, cither by virtue of their own citizenship"- and I use the word in inverted commas- or by reason of any right of abode which gives them right to any special treatment at all under this Bill. To some extent, as I shall show, they have special treatment from various sources: from the treaty itself, but subject to the qualification which I have thought right to make to the noble Lord, Lord Mishcon, from the assurances given, and by virtue of the constitution of Gibraltar itself.
66
By contrast the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man have not the relevant rights under the treaty because they are not dependencies to which Article 227(4) refers, by their own choice; the Orkneys and the Shet- lands, to which reference has also been made, have rights as part of the United Kingdom but there can be no question of Gibraltar asking for the same treat- ment either as the Channel Isles or the Isle of Man or the Orkneys and Shetlands, because in both cases the reference would be totally inappropriate. The cases are distinct, not merely in law but in actual practice.
What the amendment would in fact do is to give the Gibraltarians the best of both worlds although only 'under the counter "the
counter" being the reference to Article 227(4) of the treaty. But, with respect, they are not entitled to the best of both worlds. They are a dependency and therefore are not as such entitled to the benefit of Part I, and because they are dependent they are entitled to the benefit of the treaty, though their status is declared under Part II.
6+
First, in order to establish the point I should like to establish the advantages enjoyed by Gibraltarians of both classes independently of this Bill, although in fact those advantages have been enumerated at one time or another in the debate. They are three-fold; the first two are guaranteed by the British Government and the last, subject to the one qualification I have made, by the treaty. The first- and in some ways the most important--is that contained in the preamble to the 1969 constitution following the referendum of 1967 and the assurances given on behalf of the Labour Government at
that date. The preamble states without qualification:
Her Majesty's Government will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their freely and democratic- ally expressed wishes ".
Bill
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That is where their right not to be deprived of their relationship with this country derives from. It does not derive and it cannot be made to derive from Article 227: it derives from the constitution and the assurances given thereunder.
66
mere assurances
I was a little disappointed in this connection to hear from behind me, and I think from one of the Cross- Benches, promises given by Her Majesty's Government
-of whatever party—referred to as They are not mere assurances. By whichever party the assurances is given, it is a solemn promise given by the people of this country through their freely elected representatives and I was very sorry indeed to hear those promises denigrated or said to be qualified in any way. The amendment itself depends on something which is far more insubstantial than a mere assurance of Her Majesty's Government, if a mere assurance
55
is the proper term, as I think it is not; it depends on Article 227 of the treaty, because whatever may be true of the constitution and the assurances, without Article 227 of the Treaty the amendment would be nothing.
I come now to the Bill itself. The amendment would give the right of registration on application, but only on application. So, with respect to my noble friend Lord Bethell, his claim that it removes all the anomalies disappears at one breath, because a new category of citizenship is thereby created; namely, those who are Gibraltarians and have not applied. But the assurances give the right of settlement conveyed by the assurances, and thereafter, if they then choose to be associated with the territory of this country, the right of citizenship, which is exactly what we are told they want. That is something far more than is given to Hong Kong, far more than is given to Montserrat, far more than is given to the Falkland Islands or St. Helena. All these are subject to immigration control; Gibraltarians are not subject to immigration control, either in practice under the assurances or in any other way.
This is exactly the point, surely, at which the amend- ment is objectionable in principle. May I say here again in passing that I was very glad my noble friend the Duke of Wellington reminded us that if we do wish the restrictions to be removed harmoniously this amendment may not be the easiest or best way to do it. I can express no opinion about that; I am not qualified to do so. I was very glad that he did make the point, as he is qualified to do so. But Gibraltar is a depen- dency and the Bill is about citizenship. The Gibral- tarians already enjoy the privileges I have indicated, and now we are being told we must give them the best of both worlds. The Bill does create three categories of British subjects, but I was very sorry indeed to hear the noble Lord, Lord Stewart of Fulham, the noble Lord, Lord Mishcon, the noble Lord, Lord Hankey, and I think the noble Lord, Lord Hughes, give endorse- ment to the phrase "a second class citizen ".
Lord Hughes: If the noble Lord will allow me, I did not describe it as second class citizens. What I said was that the people of Gibraltar were having it dinned into them every day by the Spanish television authorities, who said they were getting second class citizenship. That is an entirely different thing from my so commenting.