263
British Nationality
[22 JULY 1981]
selves as being dependants of their father, instead of members of the family and our sons and our daughters? I am criticising the term of dependent territories' citizenship without any other label at all, and our amendments will deal with that hereafter.
I am decrying the fact that the people of Gibraltar are being asked to be members generally of a dependent territory status.
That is the emotional side. To the emotional side must be added that we have done a pretty poor job, as I said on Second Reading, on public relationships when there is not one single party of which I am aware in the Gibraltarian democracy which does not decry the provisions that we are looking at and criticising in this amendment. The plea has been from the chief minister of Gibraltar, the leader of the Opposition, the leader of the Labour party and the Church. All entities in Gibraltar have decried what we are being asked to pass today and what is being dealt with, I think effectively, by this amendment.
If I may move from emotion to logic and justice, it can be argued--and we have heard the argument: How can one do this when there are other dependent territories which also have been loyal and whose citizens regard this country too as their mother country? The amendment was specifically worded in the way that it was in order to show that there is not an identity between Hong Kong and Gibraltar. Hong Kong is not a member of the EEC, and the right of an EEC member which has been repeated to the Committee
-is precisely to do with what we are giving to the people of Gibraltar which we are not giving to any other dependent territory. The noble Lord, Lord Boyd-Carpenter, pointed that out with his usual effec- tiveness. The people of Gibraltar are entitled through two sources to enter and work in this country. That is not the position of any one of the other dependent territories, because they do not come through the route of the EEC. It may be said, as another reason logically to go against this amendment that it upsets Spain. It may create difficulties. It may make the Spanish Government feel that what we are doing is pushing British nationality in order to pre-empt an issue which has to be negotiated-obviously one hopes amicably.
The amendment clearly lays down that it is not an automatic right of British nationality that is given. It is the right to apply to register a British national as a British subject. Therefore, it cannot possibly be argued that this in any way goes against the principle that we as a Government, when my party was in power, out- lined very clearly, that it is to be the choice of the people of Gibraltar what they do with their future. This is in accordance with that proposal.
In those circumstances, one must bear in mind that the people of Gibraltar are looking to this House at this moment to put right what another place nearly put right and failed to do by a very, very, narrow majority-if I am not being too dramatic about it— to call this Gibraltar Day. We ought to remember that in the Division Lobbies. Without any doubt at all, they are the people above all who stood by us, and, in regard to this amendment, I hope that we shall stand by them.
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Lord Renton: The noble Lord, Lord Mishcon, has et the cat out of the bag. He has pointed out that the movers of the amendment have chosen to base it upon action taken in the European Community as a way of getting round the difficulty regarding Hong Kong. That is the clear conclusion from his speech. To the extent that the amendment makes the quali- fication for the right of registration as a British citizen action taken by the EEC under Article 227(4), then I would say that that in itself could be a cause of serious misunderstanding. We should all acknowledge--be- cause it is the case--that the European Community has no power to change the nationality laws of any of its member countries or the nationality law of any of the dependencies of its member countries. Nor has it power to insert any condition in those laws. Are we therefore right to be basing our own law upon a quali- fication which has been laid down by the EEC in relation to Gibraltar?
I should point out that the use of Article 227 is a somewhat limited one. I shall not weary the Com- mittee with the detailed quotations; but, partly as a result of Article 227 and partly as a result of Article 28 of the Accession Treaty--I say this merely for example -Gibraltar is not part of the common agricultural policy and the Community rules with regard to VAT do not apply to Gibraltar-lucky people! I am not registered for VAT. Therefore to say that we should base this very important change in our own nationality law and the law that we are making for other British territories dependent upon that rather vague premise seems to me to be legislating in a rather strange way on our part. For that reason I would be opposed to the amendment, but of course showing-
Baroness Elles: What my noble friend Lord Eccles said I think should move the House, because it was our hearts that were deciding upon the outcome of this amendment-
The Lord Chancellor (Lord Hailsham of Saint Marylebone): I think that the noble Baroness may have thought my noble friend Lord Renton had sat down but he was in fact pursuing his speech. I believe that my noble friend Lady Elles wants to make a speech of her own, but perhaps we should first listen to the peroration of the noble Lord, Lord Renton.
Lord Renton: I had not finished. I thought that my noble friend was asking me to give way on a matter, and indeed I would gladly do so. But to spare your Lordships further discussion on this matter so far as I am concerned, may I simply say that it must be some reassurance to the people of Gibraltar that they are going to have a citizenship which is parallel with British citizenship but which is made different for the geographical, historical and realistic reasons that we have been given; that they are going to continue to have the right of immigration to this country under our law, the right to work and settle under European law; and the right to apply under Clause 4 of the Bill (regarding which the conditions in their case will not be onerous) for full British citizenship. Incidentally, as I understand it, that would mean they would then have to relinquish their proposed citizenship for
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