JOWI
Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants
115 Old Street, London EC1V 9JR
Telephone 01-251 8706
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Rt Hon Douglas Hurd MP
Secretary of State for the Home Department
Home Office
Queen Anne's Gate
LONDON S W 1
Ruzok
Please quote
Our reference
Your reference
Date
29 January 1986
Dear Mr Hurd
I am writing to you to ask whether you plan to amend the nationality provisions for Hong Kong (Cmnd 9627) in the light of the debates and discussions in Hong Kong and in Britain.
When the Hong Kong Act was passing very rapidly through Parliament last year, it was the nationality provisions in the Schedule and the process by which they were to be enacted which caused most debate. British nationality has always been altered or created by primary legislation, so that Parliament can give full and detailed consideration to the proposed changes and if necessary amend them. The procedure envisaged in the Act, of defining a new national status and changing the existing status of 3 million British nationals by Order in Council, subject only to affirmative resolution, thus created particular concern. Because of this, Ministers promised, exceptionally, that the proposals would be available first in draft for full discussion in Britain and Hong Kong before being presented to Parliament in their final, unamendable form.
This procedure was designed to give the opportunity for alterations if necessary. Richard Luce, then Minister of State at the Foreign Office, said (6 February, col. 1069): "According to the way in which the debate goes, the Government will, if necessary, withdraw the draft order and revise it before laying it again before the House... I hope that the House will find that procedure to be of help in enabling its views to be taken fully into account before the draft order is finally submitted" (our emphasis). Baroness Young, Minister of State in the
the Lords, made a similar promise on 19 February (col. 503): "If necessary, Government would then withdraw the order and revise it to take account of views expressed by noble Lords and in Hong Kong" (our emphasis).
The
Those debates have now taken place. Hong Kong's Legislative Council discussed the proposals on 4 December and passed a motion on them on 8 January; the Commons debated the draft on 16 January and the Lords on 20 January.
None of proposals have also attracted media comment, particularly in Hong Kong. the commentators or participants in the debate have sought to undermine the Sino-British Agreement on the future of Hong Kong or to criticise the Exchange of Memoranda on nationality. Yet there has been, as you know, overwhelming and almost unanimous support for three main amendments to the draft order, on the grounds that such changes would in fact strengthen the Agreement by providing security for all Hong Kong's inhabitants:
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a long term multiple entry stamp in BN (0) passports for the duration of the passport, to indicate to other countries that the holder has the right to enter Britain for temporary purposes and to ensure that the holder experiences minimum delay and inconvenience at British ports of entry