TNAG-1086-FCO40-1336-Implications-for-Hong-Kong-of-changes-in-the-British-nationa-1981 — Page 186

CONFIDENTIAL

Home Secretary

INDEX

LORD

PRIVY

SEAL

HER 340/1

14 OCT 1981

مله

PG0-27/10

397A

In willing Joo.co.

Wespoke &

مثل

И

you will

ди

fil.

discuss Pekey's you about

braucets" with FED, re overrully of it,

as

necessary.

4

12/10

See (413

NATIONALITY BILL: CITIZENS OF THE BRITISH DEPENDENT TERRITORIES

(CBDTs)

391A

Thank you for your minute of 7 October. I appreciate your difficulties and agree that at this stage it is too late for us to inject any amendment at the Report Stage. However, since your minute, Lord Geddes has introduced a relevant amendment.

Moreover,

414

I have just been approached by Paul Bryan from whom I understand that Lord Geddes might introduce an alternative amendment (at the Third Reading) if the present one is defeated. This would provide for CBDTS to be called British Dependent Territories Citizens instead. In these circumstances I must emphasise the danger of our having no contingency plan at all if it should appear that the Gibraltar amendment is likely to survive in the Bill.

389A

2. My minute of 2 October gave the reasons why I believed that a fall-back clause on nomenclature was necessary. I will not go into these again but I should stress that I am concerned less because of pressure from Hong Kong over their interests than because of the serious potential effect on HMG's own political, commercial and other interests and whole relationship with the Territory.

3.

༢༡.

I fully accept that the defeat of the Gibraltar amendment must

of course be our primary objective. But we should do our best to guard against a situation where we are defeated over the Gibraltar amendment and also left with a running sore in our delicate relations with Hong Kong this would be the worse of both worlds.

/4.

It would

CONFIDENTIAL