TNAG-0522-FCO40-617-Discussions-with-Sir-Murray-MacLehose--Governor-of-Hong-Kong-1975 — Page 88

introduced by the Immigration Act 1971 would be abolished. An outline of the proposed new citizenship scheme for persons connected with the UK is attached.

4. As regards persons not connected with the UK I should tell you that the opinion of the majority of those to whom the FCO telegram under reference was addressed was that the most acceptable or at least the least disturbing course would be to retain the status of citizen of the UK and Colonies for persons connected with the dependent territories. The Group however

sees very grave disadvantages in doing so. Since the basic purpose of the exercise is to exclude from a citizenship of the United Kingdom persons who do not have the right of entry into this country it follows that such persons can no longer be citizens of "the United Kingdom" and Colonies. The force of the arguments for retention of the status is well recognized but it is essential that as soon as new arrangements can be made there should be no ambiguity, no scope for confusion, and above all no implication in the national label that the United Kingdom is the home of last resort for a sizeable number of people who hold a national status in United Kingdom law but who have no connection by birth or descent with this country.

5. The Working Group has therefore decided to propose that

i. persons connected with the UK under the scheme set

out in the paper attached should be known as

British citizens; and

ii. all others who at Royal Assent are CUKCS (and residual British protected persons (BPPs) who derived their status from a connection with a former protectorate or protected state) should become British Overseas citizens;

iii. the status of British subject without citizenship (BSWCS) should be retained by those BSWCs who are not settled in the UK at Royal Assent.

6.

You will notice that British Overseas citizens will include not only persons who derived their status from a connection with a present dependency (Group A in the telegram under reference) but also those whose connection derives from a former dependency (i.e. both groups 3 and ☺). As far as these latter groups are concerned it has been decided not to deprive either of them of a status under UA law buy to withdraw from then the faculty of transmitting their status to children born after Royal Assent, with suitable safeguards against creating statelessness. Effectively therefore it will take 60 to 70 years for these groups to die out.

17.