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as he would have wished, which would have resulted in CBDTs being able
to express this status in passports as 'British (name of dependency)
Citizen' since a similar amendment was defeated in Committee. So his
amendment seeks to use, as a replacement for or alternative to CBDT,
the title 'British Dependent Territories Citizen' (that is, a simple
re-arrangement of the words to put 'British' first as it is in all other
titles).
I very much hope that you will be able to accept this amendment.
It seems innocuous so far as the Bill is concerned, and from the Hong
Kong angle opposition to it by HMG would weaken confidence in the
sincerity of our commitment to the Territory. I recognise that with
the overthrow of the Gibraltar amendment in mind you would prefer not
to be seen to be making concessions to individual territories. But if
you agree, when you see the amendment, that it is acceptable I think it should be possible to deal with it as one that brings all the titles
into line rather than makes a concession. It can be treated as quite independent of the Gibraltar amendment. Indeed, it would, I suspect, be very difficult to muster effective arguments against such a change
in the word order and it might well be carried in the Lords even if
we opposed it. So tactically it should suit our purposes all round to
have it played in the lowest possible key. It should then be possible
to argue convincingly that, for the sake of uniformity, it remained
essential to reverse the Gibraltar amendment.
I am copying this letter to Bertie Denham and Michael Jopling.
Yus
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