TNAG-1081-FCO40-1331-Implications-for-Hong-Kong-of-changes-in-the-British-nationa-1981 — Page 239

CUNFIDENTIAL

DSR 11 (Revised)

DRAFT: xxnutelettes/teleletter/despatch/note

FROM:

W Jones

DEPARTMENT:

TEL. NO:

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION

TO:

Top Secret

Mr Adams

Secret

PS/Mr Luce

Confidential

Restricted

Unclassified

PRIVACY MARKING

CAVEAT...

.In Confidence

Enclosures-flag(s)..

1

1

TYPE: Draft/Final 1+

Reference

Your Reference

Copies to:

SUBJECT:

NATIONALITY BILL: ARRANGEMENTS FOR DEPENDENCIES

1.

This note sets out the problems that would be caused for the Government if Gibraltar or the Falkland Islands were given British citizenship instead of citizenship of the British Dependent Territories. Amendments have already been tabled by Mr Enoch Powell which would incorporate the Falkland Islands and

St Helena in British citizenship and another amendment has been tabled by Mr Ivor Stanbrook which would incorporate these two territories and Gibraltar in

British citizenship.

2.

The reasons why Home Office Ministers and all

officials working on the Nationality Bill believe that no exceptions should be made for any dependent territory are as follows.

a.

If an exception were made for Gibraltar it would be extremely difficult to resist pressures for similar treatment for the Falkland Islands.

b. To make exceptions for either or both of those two

dependencies only would be regarded as racist.

c. Once an exception had been made it would be

impossible to continue to argue that CBDT is → parallel and not a second class citizenship; and

the concept of a collective CBDT would lose

credibility.

d. Requests from other territories, which have so far

/been

CONFIDENTIAL