CONFIDENTIAL
HMG is doing too much
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 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.
to
Ministers will wish to rebut these arguments forcefully. They may
refer to the very great
very great importance attached by Hong Kong people
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.
Some members who think we are doing too much for the people of Hong
Kong may also try
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.
This is quite unnecessary. The UK Memorandum makes it clear that the new form will not carry with it the right
right of abode
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
of abode in the UK on anybody. This is
because:
(i)
paragraph 2(2) requires a a "new" status to be created and the
Immigration Act 1971 only confers
a right of abode on existing categories of persons, and
CONFIDENTIAL