CONFIDENTIAL
HMG is doing too much
20. The arguments of those who think we are doing too much are likely to
centre on the retention of British nationality, and the benefits that
nationality carries with it. Some could argue that it is wrong to
perpetuate a situation in which persons who do not have the right of
abode in the UK nevertheless hold a form of British nationality.
Others could argue that it is wrong for persons who derive their
British nationality from a connection with a Dependent Territory to
continue to hold such nationality when that territory itself ceases to
be British. Still others might argue that the benefits to be enjoyed
by those who hold the new form of nationality should be far less than
those enjoyed by BDTCs.
21. Ministers will wish to rebut these arguments forcefully. They may
refer to the very great importance attached by Hong Kong people to the
retention of their nationality status and to the clear reassurance on
this point already provided in the UK Memorandum. That Memorandum
represents a political commitment which HMG are bound to uphold.
Moreover it has been made clear to the Executive Council of Hong Kong
that the benefits of the new status will be the same in all major
respects as those now enjoyed by BDTCs, except for the loss of
transmissibility. There can be no going back on these commitments.
22. Some members who think we are doing too much for the people of Hong Kong
may also try to write into the Bill an explicit provision that the new
form of nationality will not carry the right of abode in the UK.
23. This is quite unnecessary. The UK Memorandum makes it clear that the
new form will not carry with it the right of abode in the UK. There is
no need to legislate on the point; to do so might be taken as a
gratuitous insult in Hong Kong. Moreover Ministers may also say that
the powers in the Bill as drafted could not subsequently be used to confer
the right of abode in the UK on anybody. Only British citizenship carries
with it the right of abode in the UK, and British citizenship cannot be
conferred on Hong Kong BDTCs because the Bill refers to "such new form of
nationality." In addition there are well founded objections to
introducing immigration provisions into nationality legislation.
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CONFIDENTIAL