million people throughout the world who are "British subjects” in our là.... Most of these are, of course, citizens of independent Commonwealth countries. Of the rest, 56 million are citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies by reason of their close connection with the United Kingdom itself and are exempt from United Kingdom immigration control. A further 3.3 million (of whom 2.6 million are in Hong Kong) are citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies by virtue of a close connection with an existing dependency. These do not have a right of entry to the United Kingdom, but they do almost invariably have a right of admission to a dependency. There are, however, a number of citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies-about 190,000 mostly in Malaysia, India and Africa-who, deriving their status from former dependencies, have no such rights. (The numbers in East Africa are declining as a result of admission here under the special voucher scheme which the Government intend to continue). Then there are thought to be some 3 million citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies (1 million in this country) with dual nationality who are exempt from United Kingdom immigration control, and a further 1.3 million (mostly in Malaysia) who are subject to such control. Many of those citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies without rights of entry to either the United Kingdom or a dependency are, of course, well established in their countries of residence even when they do not have dual citizenship. Finally, it should be added that there are believed to be about 250,000 British Subjects without Citizenship, and over 274,000 British Protected Persons (the majority in the Solomon Islands). Nearly all of these people are living abroad and are subject to immigration control. About 120,000 Irish citizens have made formal claims under section 2 of the 1948 Act to remain British subjects (see paragraph 5 above).
The present situation
12. The Act of 1948 reflected the situation of the United Kingdom at that time. The country was still an Imperial power; it had direct responsibility for very large populations in Colonial territories. The status of British subject, held by all who had links with the Commonwealth, still seemed meaningful and relevant. The speed at which Colonial territories were to become independent was not then generally apparent. Women's status lagged considerably behind that of men. All these things have changed, and the cumulative effect of the changes has been that the citizenship laws of the United Kingdom no longer accurately define those who have the normal attributes of citizenship. This in turn leads to considerable uncertainty and misunderstanding, both at home and overseas, about the United Kingdom's obligations to its citizens.
[4. Such a citizenship would avoid the present difficulties described in paragraph 10 of defining which people are to have the unqualified right of entry to this country. But it might then be necessary to provide protection for the rights of entry now enjoyed by people who did not qualify for the new citizen- ship, and this is discussed in paragraph 29.
15. Second, arrangements must be made for those people who are now citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies (or British Protected Persons), but who do not have such close ties with the United Kingdom as to become British Citizens. These people too would have to be given a new status. To leave those of them who are citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies with that status when many of them have little or no connection by birth, ancestry or residence with the United Kingdom or any Colony would prolong a misleading and unsatisfactory feature of the present situation. Instead, both they and the British Protected Persons might be known as British Overseas Citizens, thus bringing their status more closely into accord with present-day circumstances. The aim might be to limit this citizenship eventually to those who have the right of entry to a dependency. British Overseas Citizenship would then carry with it the right of entry to a dependency just as British Citizenship would carry with it the right of entry to the United Kingdom. But this, it must be stressed, would be a long-term aim.
16. With the conferment of British Citizenship on some citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies, and British Overseas Citizenship on the remainder, citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies would disappear.
17. British Citizens and British Overseas Citizens would be eligible to hold passports describing them as such and the British Government would be entitled to afford the same consular protection to holders of both citizenships.
18. Some possible arrangements for a British Citizenship and a British Overseas Citizenship are discussed in detail below. For both citizenships, these would fall into two parts:-
arrangements for deciding which citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies (and other persons eligible to hold British passports) alive when a new scheme came into force were to become either British Citizens or British Overseas Citizens—that is, the transitional arrange- ments: and
(ii) the arrangements for acquiring the citizenship by birth, naturalisation etc., after the scheme was introduced-that is, the permanent arrange-
ments.
THE NEXT STEP-A NEW SCHEME OF CITIZENSHIP
13. A new scheme of citizenship should reflect the strength of the connection which various groups of people have with the United Kingdom in the world today. First, there must be a more meaningful citizenship for those who have close links with the United Kingdom (including, for this purpose, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) and who can be expected to identify themselves with British society. Those holding this new citizenship might be known as British Citizens.
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Transitional arrangements
A BRITISH CITIZENSHIP
(a) Groups of citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies who might become
British Citizens
19. As indicated above, British Citizenship would be for those citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies with close ties with the United Kingdom. Clearly, therefore, the citizenship would be conferred at the outset on those who are now citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies because they were
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