1269
European Community (Fisheries)
16 JANUARY 1986
Hong Kong Nationality)
1270
Hong Kong (Nationality)
insurance or the equivalent Isle of Man or Channel Islands schemes. As a further deterrent. western hake was designated a pressure stock, which will restrict access to the fishery.
I have little time left in which to deal with the Norwegian point. My right hon. Friend explained that the agreement with Norway involved an explicit transfer from the Community to Norway of North sea herring for 1986 to balance the rest of the agreement. In addition, the agreement does not just concern North sea herring, but covers a wide range of important fish stocks and assures vital access to Norwegian grounds for our whitefish fleet. I am happy to give an assurance that the Government cannot accept that the decision to allocate 40 per cent. of the herring in the central and northern North sea to Norway in 1986 sets any kind of precedent for the longer-term share out. My right hon. Friend has continually made it clear that he was not at all pleased with the way in which the negotiations were conducted by the Commission. He has made that clear to the Commission. We very much hope that a repeat of the situation will not happen this year.
I have only sufficient time to mention one very serious point which it would be remiss of me not to mention. I was asked by three hon. Members about the safety of fishing vessels in the light of the tragic loss of the Bon Ami off the north-west coast of Scotland at the end of last year. At present my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport has responsibility for safety, and his Department is conducting the shipping investigation. I cannot say more than that. However, I assure hon. Members that his Department and the Fisheries Departments view the incident with great seriousness.
Last year we finished on the successful note of scrapping the proposals for the Norway pout by-catch derogation, together with an agreement on tax and quotas for the main fish stocks in 1986. This year the industry will undoubtedly have to face certain difficulties and problems. including the unfortunate but necessary reduction in quota in North sea cod. There are opportunities for the industry to continue to prosper, and I am sure that it will seize them.
Question put and agreed to.
Resolved,
That this House takes note of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food's unnumbered explanatory memoranda dated 10th December 1985 on 1986 total allowable catches and quotas, on modifications to the proposed 1986 total allowable catches and quotas and on the fisheries agreement for 1986 between the European Community and Norway, of European Community Documents Nos. 9284/85 on amendments to Regulation 2057/82 establishing certain control measures for fishing activities by vessels of Member States, 8662/85 on the allocation of flat rate quantities of hake, horse mackerel and blue whiting to Spain, and 10047/85 on 1986 fish guide prices; and welcomes and approves the provisional agreement reached on these arrangements for 1986 with the improvements obtained for the United Kingdom fishing industry.
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.---[Mr. Lennox Boyd.]
Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Paul Dean): The House will wish to know that many right hon. and hon. Members wish to speak in the debate. As it must end at 10 o'clock, I appeal for short speeches.
7.20 pm
The Minister of State, Home Office (Mr. David Waddington): The White Paper which is before the House today sets out the Government's proposals for implementing the nationality provisions of the Hong Kong Act 1985. With the White Paper is the draft of an Order in Council which would enact the provisions and which, subject to what is said in the debate, we would hope to lay formally before the House before Easter.
The Government believe that the nationality provisions in the White Paper are fair and comprehensive. They are intended to establish clearly the future citizenship of British dependent territories citizens in Hong Kong once Hong Kong ceases to be a dependent territory on 1 July 1997. We are introducing them in good time to prevent uncertainty, and to ensure that people in Hong Kong and third countries have an opportunity to get used to the new passport. Once the order is made there will be much detailed work still to do, but the foundation will have been laid, and we believe that it will provide a stable basis on which the people of Hong Kong can plan their future with confidence.
The nationality provisions arise directly from the Sino- British joint declaration on Hong Kong and its associated exchange of memoranda on nationality. Hon. Members will recall that the House debated and approved the Government's intention to sign the agreement just over a year ago, after the people of Hong Kong had been given an opportunity to express their views, and the overwhelming majority had found it acceptable. Following that debate, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister went to Peking to sign the agreement.
As a consequence, the Hong Kong Bill was passed and received Royal Assent in April last year. Paragraph 2 of the schedule to the Act allows for provision to be made by Order in Council for the ending on 1 July 1997 of British dependent territories citizenship for those having such citizenship through a connection with Hong Kong, and for their acquisition of a new form of nationality, the holders of which will be known as British Nationals (Overseas). The paragraph also allows provision to be made for the avoidance of statelessness.
It is important for the House to remember the whole time that what we can do for nationality is confined by the Hong Kong Act. The framework has already been set by the Act, and the Order in Council must keep within that framework. Its role is not to reopen questions already considered and approved by the House, but to establish the detailed arrangements which will be necessary to give effect to the provisions set out in the agreement and the Act. Furthermore, neither that agreement nor the Act in any way alters the decision initially taken in 1961, and confirmed in subsequent legislation, that British nationals in Hong Kong are subject to United Kingdom immigration control. It is the Government's general policy to maintain the effectiveness of that control, and the case for making
653
لتا