Annex A
Speech by Sir Paul Bryan, P in the House of Commons on 27th October 1981
I sincerely congratulate Gibraltar on securing the amendment, but I must point out the effects of the amendment on other dependent territories. The House will not be
surprised to hear that I have in mind Hong Kong, although the words I use will be a good deal more temporate than those we have heard from the Liberal Benches.
During the passage of the Bill through both Houses there have been frequent assurances of non-discrimination between the different dépendent territories. For instance, the Home Secretary stated:
"I recognise the deeply held feelings in some of the territories concerned that the Bill should have given them more. It would, however, have been difficult to devise a scheme for separate citizenships for all the dependencies"
and here I emphasise the Home Secretary's words-
"and invidious to single some out from all the others. For that same reason, it would have been discriminatory to make some but not others British citizens." - /Official Report, 4 June 1981; Vol. 5, c. 115277
Similar sentiments have been expressed by other members of the Government when speaking on the Bill.. Nevertheless,
Nevertheless, the Bill before us now includes a specific discrimination in favour of Gibraltar.
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My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary also gave a special undertaking on 28 January in respect of the Falkland Islands, but I shall not go further in that direction for fear of being out of order. But here again we have an instance of specific assurances being given to one territory under one sort of pressure but not to others who may well feel that the pressure on them is just as great.
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I assure the House that there is no ill-will for Gibraltar in Hong Kong, or any wish to remove from Gibraltarians what they have been given in the amendment. But after repeated assurances that Her Majesty's Government would oppose the amendment, the fact that it is now accepted, together with the principle of discrimination that if embodies, has obviously caused profound disillusionment in Hong Kong.
/ I fully