269
[LORD CARVER.]
British Nationality
[ LORDS]
I know very well from my own personal experience the way in which foreign immigration authorities. do not understand what is written on one's British passport. One of my passports was issued in Kenya when it was a colony and another one was issued in Singapore, and I can remember on one occasion coming from Holland into Germany when I was stationed there and in handing it back to me after consulting a long list the German immigration officer said, “You are jolly lucky that you do not come from Trinidad and Tobago ".
In my view this is a very important point, and having considerable knowledge of the affairs of Hong Kong I agree with the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Geddes, that it is of great importance to all the categories of British citizenship, as it will be, that other countries when imposing their own immigartion control should clearly understand that the man who is trying to go through has the protection of British nationality. That is extremely important and therefore I hope that your Lordships' House will accept this amendment.
3.34 p.m.
Lord Trefgarne: My Lords, although this amend- ment does not specifically refer to Hong Kong, my noble friend Lord Geddes has not sought to hide his particular concern for the people of that territory and indeed I would commend him for his single-minded pursuit of their interests, as he sees them, during the passage of this Bill. Of course, he has enjoyed no small measure of support here this afternoon.
I want first to make it clear that the Government are no less determined than my noble friend to main- tain present links between Hong Kong and the people of the United Kingdom and to do everything we pos- sibly can to ensure that the people of the territory understand beyond peradventure that our affection for them and our concern for their welfare are not transient things but permanent in every sense of the word. There is no question of this Bill having the slightest adverse effect on our relationship's or our ties. Indeed, it is a source of great satisfaction to us that there exists in Hong Kong such a strong feeling of the need to maintain and even to strengthen the links which exist between us. May I quote the words of my right honourable friend the Home Secretary when he said in another place on 28th January:
"We are aware of the strength of feeling in Hong Kong on the need to maintain the ties between the Territory and the United Kingdom. I should like to reaffirm that the proposed legislation is in no way intended to weaken those links, to which we attach great importance ".
I welcome this opportunity to reaffirm that relation- ship, and that it is as important as ever to Her Majesty's Government. As I have made clear, the Government opposed the Gibraltar amendment precisely because we believe that all citizens of the British dependent territories should be treated uniformly, but its passage against our advice does not alter in any way our obli- gations to the people of Hong Kong and the other dependent territories.
There is no doubt in the Government's view of the strength of the links between Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. Neither can there be any doubt, in the Government's view, that the status of citizen
Bill
270
"British
of the British dependent territories is a status. There can be no grounds whatever for fearing that this will not be understood. But, having decided that we need a distinctive citizenship for the United Kingdom, we have to create a different status for the dependencies and for the other categories, avoiding the doubt, dispute and recrimination which has arisen from our present laws, particularly over the immigra- tion consequences. This we have done. We cannot now blur that distinction without seriously undermining one of the basic principles of this nationality legislation.
It has been said that a more clearly defined link be- tween the United Kingdom and our various dependent territories in the new citizenship titles would be of value especially, for example, to travellers to third countries. Your Lordships will agree, I believe, that the new description of" citizen of the British dependent territories is clear and unambiguous-clearer than the present status of “citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies without the right of abode in the United Kingdom". The Government will explain fully to other countrics the new citizenship titles and their meanings, and Her Majesty's Government intend to continue to provide consular representation as at present to these categories in the unlikely event that there is any doubt.
I turn now to the amendment itself and I am afraid that I see serious difficulties with it. First, it is particularly unfortunate that this amendment would cover many people who are not only subject to our immigration control but who also hold other citizen- ships. The 1.3 million future British overseas citizens in Malaysia are probably the largest category here, though it is not clear why my noble friend has omitted British protected persons and British subjects in special categories.
""
Secondly, the concept of "British national is not something known to our domestic law, nor is it any- where defined in the Bill. Indeed, beyond the provi- sion of consular assistance and public representation there is no unanimity among international jurists as to what rights or obligations exist between a state and its nationals, particularly in relation to the right of entry and settlement. Thus, the additional words would serve only to generate confusion, to blur the distinction between the new categories of citizenship and, worst of all perhaps, raise expectations among the less well informed which in the event could not be realised.
During the course of his speech my noble friend Lord Geddes said that he thought the people of Hong Kong would amount to about 80 per cent. of the total of citizens of British dependent territories and British overseas citizens. I fear that my noble friend is not quite right in that; the figure is, I think, nearer 55 per cent. It may be that my noble friend did not take into account all the categories of British overseas citizens who would be covered by his amendment.
My noble friend also referred to the question of land- ing cards which one fills in on arrival at a foreign country. On such cards, and usually in other similar circumstances, the information required is a precise description of the national status of the person con- cerned. This is the information our immigration officers are seeking from the question. They need it to determine the person's position under our immi- gration laws. Similarly, the immigration officers in