PS/Mr Luce
cc PS/Mr Ridley
Mr Adams
Mr Clift, HGD
SED
SIR E YOUDE
CONFIDENTIAL
fa
Di
HKR 340/1
314
HELLOINE V MAMEN DO. 51
2 1 JUL 1981
SK OFFICEA
INDEX
PA
RASTRY Action Take
NATIONALITY BIL: THE PRO-GIBRALTAR AMENDMENT AND CONSEQUENCES FOR OTHER DEPENDENCIES
Problems
1. If the amendment to the Nationality Bill tabled in the Lords
to give any Gibraltarian the right to acquire British citizenship on application were to succeed it could seriously undermine
one of the major provisions of the Nationality Bill and would
have very serious consequences for our relations with other
dependencies, particularly Hong Kong.
Recommendation
2. I recommend that Lord Carrington should write to the Home
Secretary in the terms of the attached minute suggesting a clear
public statement that the Government are unshaken in their view
that in the Nationality Bill all dependencies should be treated alike and that they intend to resist the Gibraltar amendment. HKGD and SED concur.
Background and Argument
Over
3. When a similar amendment was tabled at the Report Stage in the Commons the Government had a majority of about 25. 20 Conservative MPs voted against the Government. Several newspapers have carried reports since then, clearly emanating from the Gibraltar lobby, that there is sufficient all-party
support to carry the amendment in the Lords and that the Government would not be able to muster a majority needed to reverse the amendment in the Commons. It is possible that these
reports will weaken the resolve of the Government's supporters.
For example the Head of the Hong Kong Government Office in
London recently asked us whether the Government really did have
CONFIDENTIAL
/the intention
PGD 21/2