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practical benefits to them. What is important is
Ministers
whether the Government will in practice continue to
represent them internationally, give consular assistance
and help with entry into third countries etc.
have given assurances on all these points and are
willing to repeat them. Ministers have in fact been
unqualified in their approach to the dependencies in all
discussions of nationality. In the White Paper they said. that CBDT 'would in no way alter the relationship between those territories and the UK, nor the Government's obligations and commitments to the dependent territories
and to their citizens. In the Second Reading Debate Mr Whitelaw reaffirmed that 'the proposed legislation is
in no way intended to weaken those links [with the dependencies] to which we attach great importance'.
'What I want to stress however is that the Bill in
no way alters the position as regards the UK's moral and
constitutional responsibilities for the territories in
question'. During the Committee stage and elsewhere
Ministers have repeatedly drawn attention to and
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repeated these assurances. That is the reality of the situation. It is in no way diminished by unwillingness to introduce a new designation which brings no practical benefits but which because of disagreement on its meaning and consequences would inevitably create grave difficulties for the UK.
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