10.
I know it will be said that these defects are purely
technical and that the right place to correct them is in Committee.
I do not dispute that, my Lords, but I felt it right to indicate
that there were drafting deficiencies.
They were one of the
reasons why the Government did not feel that it would have been
right to allow the Bill to pass undebated through another place
when it was introduced there by Mr Kilroy-Silk. But in any case
the Government believe that there are more suitable ways than
this Bill for taking account of the special needs of the Falkland
Islanders.
Indeed, the Government have consistently undertaken
to bear their special circumstances in mind, even though they felt
obliged to recommend that no exception be made in the citizenship area.
11. I turn now to the specific assurances which we gave to the Falkland
Islanders. The first pledge dates from December 1979, when my hon Frien
Mr Nicholas Ridley, then Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonweal
Office, gave an assurance to the Falkland Islands Councillors in the
following terms:
"I realise that those Islanders without patriality or a United
Kingdom born grandparent may fear the prospect of finding themselves faced with a genuine difficulty. You will appreciate that I cannot
give a firm undertaking in respect of such Islanders. But I can
reaffirm the pledge of Her Majesty's Government to do everything
possible to assist in the event of an emergency, and to consider
most carefully and sympathetically the problems of any Islander in
trouble at such a time".
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