SECRET
HOME OFFICE
QUEEN ANNE'S GATE
LONDON SWIH 9AT
B
W K K White Esq
No To
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THEGA
115
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
Legal
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Min Grooks) Advice (9
31 August 1982
Deur White,
Thank you for your letter of 24 August saying that the FCO were disposed to accept the proposition that the words "British national" should be allowed to appear on British passports issued by the Government of Hong Kong, and asking for Home Office views. Because of the importance of the issue, and the previous history of representations from Hong Kong over the provisions of the British Nationality Act, I thought I ought to This I put the papers to the Home Secretary before I replied.
you that the Home Secretary have done and as a result must tell is strongly opposed to the Hong Kong proposal, both because of its possible implications for people in Hong Kong and because of the more general implications of what is suggested.
As you know a primary purpose of the British Nationality Act was to separate out the category of people who had the right of entry here and to get away so far as possible from such mis- leading umbrella terms as "Citizen of the UK and Colonies" and "British subject". To let the term "British national" be used in passports would go a long way to undermining these purposes.
The proposition in your letter relates only to the passport of British Dependent Territories citizens in Hong Kong, but, if it were accepted, how could we refuse any other requests to ente
Presumably no one will want "British national" in passports? the terms "British citizen" and "British national" appearing in the same passport since, apart from the apparent absurdity of th
If juxtaposition, there would be no advantage in doing so, but what about the passports issued to British Overseas citizens? British Overseas citizens living in the sub-continent were to make the request, how could we refuse to call them "British
(If they do have nationals" if they had no other citizenship? other citizenships the question might arise whether one could
What conclusion legitimately claim them as our nationals.) would be drawn in relation to British protected persons by, for example, the European Commission of Human Rights who were dis- posed to treat them differently to citizens of the United Kingdo
And what about and Colonies in the East African Asians case? the residual group whose passports will describe them as "British subjects"
If something went wrong in Hong Kong and people left in large numbers, or were outside the Colony at the relevant time, the Government of the day would probably wish to continue to
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