TNAG-1081-FCO40-1331-Implications-for-Hong-Kong-of-changes-in-the-British-nationa-1981 — Page 162

Mr Jones, N&TD

MICK 3401

RECEIVED

Mowings.3

BERRY NO. 51

· 5 MAR 1981

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The Lord Privy Seal held a meeting at 3.30om on 26 February

to consider your Submission of 25 February and paper on the position of the Dependencies. Mr Blaker, Mr Ridley and Mr Luce were present together with Messrs Adams, Donald, Martin and yourself.

Mr Luce and others described the pressures building up both within Parliament and from the Dependencies for changes to be made in the Bill concerning the status of CBDTs. Ministers discussed how we should respond to these pressures. They concluded that they should:

(a) rule out British citizenship for all or some CBDTS;

(b)

(c)

(d)

rule out separate citizenship for each DT, whether identical

or individually tailored;

continue to explore other ways of meeting the demand by Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands for apparently individual treatment, while not prejudicing Hong Kong's wish not to have CBDT status explicitly linked to Hong Kong. To achieve this it was important that Departments should in particular examine whether a promise of possible separate citizenship in the future, provided by an enabling amendment in the Bill, (paragraph 7(iv) of your paper) might not be offered during

debate, as a concession to the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar

lobby. Care would be needed in debate in the House to avoid

arousing either Peking's suspicions that Hong Kong would be intended as a candidate in the future, or Hong Kong suspicions that they might get less favourable treatment than other DTS; consider, other ways of meeting the political pressure from

for example a concession on British citizenship for Crown servants in Hong Kong.

DTS

-

CONFIDENTIAL

/Mr Luce