Judicial Review
CONFIDENTIAL
30. In devising the overall scheme, and preparing Instructions for Parliamentary Counsel, the aim has been to reduce the scope
for judicial review to a minimum. Following the precedent of
the British Nationality Act 1981 the Bill will provide that no decision which is discretionary shall be subject to review in any
court. However, there is a risk that such a provision will not
prevent challenge on normal judicial review grounds against the
non-discretionary part of any decision by the Governor to
recommend citizenship or the Secretary of State to grant it. Nearly all the challenges will be launched in the Hong Kong
courts against the Governor's refusal to recommend. The risk of
judicial review in London is considerably reduced by the very
limited circumstances in which it would be possible under the Bill for me to decline to act on the Governor's recommendation.
The main area of vulnerability in London would be in respect of the Approved Secondment Scheme were this to be pursued.
The Garrison
31. In his letter to me of 21 December, the Defence Secretary asked for 2,000 of the 50,000 places to be set aside for locally
engaged personnel (who, as uniformed soldiers, perform a wide
range of military functions in the Garrison) and civilians.
There are 4,000 such staff and, the Defence Secretary argues, if
failure to look after their interests meant that they fell
substantially below complement, difficulty would be encountered
in running the Garrison and replacements would have to be flown
in from the UK.
32. The purpose of our scheme is to give key personnel who are emigrating from Hong Kong the confidence to remain up to 1997 and
beyond. The locally engaged staff of the Garrison are not
emigrating in significant numbers, neither will they remain
CONFIDENTIAL
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