MAY.14 '86 16:39 GMT HO 2 LUNAR HOUSE
P.06
I do not believe it is helpful or indeed accurate to suggest, as does the
Opposition motion, that BN (0) or indeed BOC is not an effective form of nationality.
17.
We must also take account of the implications of the proposal for our
immigration policy. At present there are about 11,500 people who might benefit
in 1997 from the grant of British citizenship, but of course no one can say with
any certitude what might be the size of the commitment by then.[and it would be
by no means easy or I suggest particularly fair to try to discriminate between
the 11,500 and any others who by 1997 might have similar claims.
18.
To grant British citizenship would therefore have wider implications whose
impact we could not at present predict with any confidence or assurance. It would
set up pressures and stresses in Hong Kong and elsewhere which would be inimical
to the careful and planned approach we have, with your Lordships' support, so far
taken to Hong Kong. In the circumstances we do not believe that would be a
responsible way in which to go into the years up to 1997.
19. Our proposals therefore guarantee people's continuing right of abode in Hong
Kong; and they provide a recognised nationality status so there is no risk of
statelessness; and they extend that assurance to 2 generations born after 1997.
These arrangements therefore secure the position up to about the middle of the
next century.
20. The Government recognise that we are having to make judgements now in the
light of the present circumstances and of our expectations for the future. If
these were to change, there would no doubt be many things to reconsider. But in
response to the concern of the ethnic minority community in Hong Kong with no other
form of nationality, the Government have, however, already made it plain, and I
am happy to repeat again now, that if any British national came under pressure
to leave Hong Kong we would expect government of the day to consider
sympathetically their case for adm
to the Unad Kingdom. Mr John Swaine,
the convenor in Hong Kong of the ad no. group on the Nationality Order, has been
quoted in the press as describing this as a strong moral commitment. I am sure
the whole House will want to endorse this commitment. The assurance it offers,
together with the guarantee of nationality and the right of abode, provide the
ethnic minority communities in Hong Kong with the highest possible degree of
security and confidence in the future.
I
5