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CONFIDENTIAL
The situation of the people Mr Sandberg has in mind seems to be considerably outside these expectations. They could be granted British citizenship now only if the Home Secretary was prepared to offer immediate settlement in this country without the four year qualifying period, and he was prepared to accept that the people need have spent no appreciable time here in the last five years. In short, he would need to use his powers in a way directly contrary to the manner Ministers had in 1981 announced that they intended to use them. The Home Secretary does not consider it would be right to act in this way. In view of the statements made in Parliament in 1981 he would need to explain publicly why he was taking action contrary to the policy then expressed and it would be very difficult to justify. It could also cause considerable controversy in the context of the Hong Kong Nationality Order (which, subject to OD(K)'s agreement we expect to lay before the House shortly), particularly as the Home Secretary considers it right to continue to resist the strongly pressed claims of some 11,000 British Dependent Territories citizens who are not ethnically Chinese who want to become British citizens. It might in practice also be very difficult to distinguish clearly, in terms relevant to the nationality provisions, between these large groups and the people Mr Sandberg has in mind. We could be accused of giving a privilege to rich men who do not want to throw in their lot with Britain by living here, and denying it to poor men who do.
The Home Secretary would obviously like to be as helpful as these policy and legal considerations allow. He proposes, therefore, to write to Mr Sandberg and explain what action people would need to take in order to become eligible for British citizenship. He would make clear that business- men from Hong Kong will continue to be welcome here and that there is provision in our immigration arrangements under which they can qualify for settlement. He would also make clear that while he can give no blanket undertakings to groups of people, he would be ready to consider as sympa- thetically as possible the use of his discretionary powers if any individual among Mr Sandberg's contacts who had formed strong links with this country through establishing themselves here were then to make an application for British citizenship.
The Home Secretary recognises that this does not go as far as Mr Sandberg wanted, but he hopes it will be possible to persuade him that it would not really be practicable or any Home Secretary to give an under- taking to use his powers in the blanket way Mr Sandberg has suggested, and that he is willing to be sympathetic to individuals who have established themselves here and who may be able to make out a particularly sound case.
I am copying this letter to Len Appleyard (FCO).
Yours merely
Within Sittell
WR FITTALL
CD Powell, Esq.
CONFIDENTIA
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