Note for File
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AKD. 340/6
RE
See Submn + draft looker. ара.
©Mak 1997
2211 من
(7)
CALL ON MR LLOYD BY DR C H LEONG, 14 JANUARY
1.
I telephoned Colin Miller of B2 Division Home Office (Immigration) for a read-out on Dr Leong's meeting with Peter Lloyd yesterday. He told me the meeting had been very good natured throughout. Dr Leong had made a very good impression and Mr Lloyd had shown himself to be particularly sympathetic to Dr Leong's arguments.
2.
Mr Lloyd had made clear that he understood the case for children born before 1 January 1983, and agreed that not to register them as British citizens was illogical in terms of the BNHK 1990. He recognised that most of their parents would very likely have been eligible under the 1990 Act had they not already been British Citizens, and agreed that it was not a serious, practical option for them to have renounced their citizenship and applied under the 1990 scheme. Suprisingly little time was spent discussing the nature of the proposed immigration concession. Instead Mr Lloyd showed himself to be open-minded about registration under Section 3 (1) of the BNA 1981 and said that he would look again at the arguments subject to further advice from B4 Division (Nationality) •
3.
Dr Leong acknowledged that there might well be more than 220 children in this position, perhaps as many as 3-400, (but certainly not of the order of 3000, as the South China Morning Post had suggested). He undertook to find out how many children were affected in this way and how many of them are already living in the UK at school, or as students.
4.
Mr Miller said Mr Lloyd clearly "had no great appetite" for the immigration route, believing that to grant citizenship would be cleaner and tidier than a messy, and not very satisfactory, immigration concession. He inclined to think that if registration proved impossible to arrange, then it would be better to do nothing at all.
5.
After the call, Mr Lloyd had agreed that there would have been strong resistance to such 'add-on' deals as this, had it emerged during the passage of the BNHKA; but the dust had now settled, we were only talking about 3-400 children, and in the unique conditions of Hong Kong it would be possible to ring-fence a decision to register this small select group under Section 3(1). But he could not predict how the Home Secretary would respond.
JM2AAJ
TG
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