are considering.
6. In connection with the Declaration to be made under
section 5 of BNA 1981 the Gibraltar Government have now
informed us that they consider it should cover all persons who
will become BDTCs by virtue of a connection with Gibraltar.
The definition we had been about to submit omitted 8 categories
of such persons.
There would be considerable resentmen't in
Gibraltar at these omissions since they would discriminate
against a comparatively small number of people and appear .to
be largely a technical defect.
D
7.
In consultation with the Home Office we have concluded
that we shoud recommend a fully comprehensive definition as
desired by the Gibraltar Government. We recommend this on the
following grounds:-
(a) Section 5 of BNA 1981 started life as Lord Bethell's
proposal to confer British citizenship instead of BDTC
on all who are at present CUKCS by connection with
Gibraltar.
As finally enacted it falls short of this
only in a technical sense since it is the route to
British citizenship by the entitlement to registration
of all (Gibraltarians) whom the UK includes in its
definition of UK national for EC purposes. The new
Declaration is consequently of considerable greater
significance to the Gibraltarians than the 1972 Declaration
which provided no such entitlement, and the Gibraltar
lobby in Parliament could rally opposition there (for
the reasons in paragraph 6 above) to a definition which
excluded individual categories. This would be most
unwelcome at a time when dissatisfaction continues to be
expressed about the value of BDTC in other contexts such
/as
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