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British Nationality
[ 20 OCTOBER 1981]
impressive maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Kadoorie, when he said, speaking of the Hong Kong that he knows so well, that they liked their citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies and saw no reason to change it. I wonder why the Government have thought it necessary to change it. It was that that raised the Gibraltar issue; it was that that raised the Falkland Islands issue, which my noble friend Lady Vickers very nearly succeeded in rectifying. We are told that to make those exceptions is contrary to the main scheme of the Bill. So be it. But if that is so, does it not raise a doubt as to whether the main scheme of the Bill itself is right, whether a system of three different types of citizenship—I forbear to say tiers or classes is necessarily right? If the Bill causes unhappiness, for example among the loyal citizens of Hong Kong, does that not raise a question in your Lordships' minds as to whether this system is right?
I cannot help feeling that if anything were to go wrong in the next few stages of the Bill, and the Bill were not to pass into law this Session, it might be a blessing in disguise to the Government. No doubt to my noble friend Lord Belstead the disguise would be pretty thick, but it might give the Government a chance to think again and at least to apply their minds to this question, which troubles me, as to why it is that there is so much unhappiness about this Bill and the whole of its structure in so many people's minds.
Having said that, as one who is probably as loyal a Conservative and as loyal a supporter of this Government as anyone in this House, I am presented with a problem as to what I should do about the amendment tabled by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Elwyn-Jones. I must say at once that I can see no point or value in that amendment at all. It proposes to give the Bill its Third Reading while at the same time saying, in the nastiest way possible, what an awful Bill it is. I really do not think that that is the right posture for your Lordships' House. I cannot think that we should give the Bill a Third Reading and then send it forth, with all the handicap and disadvantage of this House having said that it is bad in the various ways listed. Whatever we think if this Bill-and I have made my views pretty clear—if it passes into law, if it goes over the hurdles that are still ahead of it, I am sure that we all want it to work as well as possible; I am sure that we all want our doubts and anxieties about it to prove to be exaggerated; and, above all, I am sure that we want to ensure that the anxieties of those concerned and involved, which have been aroused, should be quieted.
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I can think of no better way of stimulating those anxieties than at the same time to say: This Bill shall become the law of the land, but we all think that it is a most terrible Bill which will create injustice and ill-feeling". Therefore, the one thing that I am sharp and clear about in my own mind on this issue is that, much as I dislike the Bill, I dislike the amendment of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Elwyn-Jones,
even more.
5.28 p.m.
Lord Harmar-Nicholls: My Lords, the last words of the noble Lord, Lord-Boyd-Carpenter, have put on the record the sort of thing that was disturbing me.
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I think that it has been a most unbalanced debate and, in view of all that has gone on, a most unfair debate. If it was not for the refreshing intervention by my noble friend Lady Elles, I do not think the debate would have reflected what was intended and what has gone on. I hope that what she has to say
will be read.
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We should keep in mind that the Government have tackled this very difficult problem, this hot potato, from which so many other Governments in the past have run away.
It is not only recently that there has been known the need to have a clearer distinction as to what nationality means as regards Britain; it has been known for years. It has been in the know- ledge of all of us, and I should have thought nowhere more so than in the knowledge of those who represent us in the Churches, that the uncertainty of the past causes and creates many of the difficulties.
I believe that at this last stage in your Lordships' House we ought to be prepared not only to congratulate my noble friend on the excellent way in which he has piloted this Bill through, but also to congratulate the Government on having the courage to tackle this and to try to do something about it: they have tackled it with sincerity and with a genuine desire to try to arrive at the right answer.
One could not have arrived at an answer that would have satisfied everyone. This was an issue which was positively incapable of being committed to print and being able to satisfy all the diverse views, emotions and reactions which surround it-that was an im- possibility. I do not believe that we are dealing with matter by accepting this amendment, which has been put on the Order Paper by the noble and learned Lord; I do not believe that we are dealing with it as parliamentarians. I do not believe that it is the job of parliament, acting in their capacity as Parlia- mentarians, to add a rider such as this to a Bill which they recommend be passed.
I was appalled--I think that is the right word-to hear the most reverend Primate say that he was going to vote in support of this amendment. I accept his arguments and I respect his point of view. I believe he did his duty through all the stages in putting on record the point of view he truly believed, but to say that he is prepared by his voting to have it on record that he is allowing to go through a Bill that in the words of the amendment "will exacerbate racial tension" is virtually inviting the people who intend to exacerbate racial tension (in any case) to use the Bill as an excuse to go on doing just that. To go to the extent of the vote following the voice of the right reverend Primate is dangerous in the extreme. I am glad that he said he was only talking for the bishops because as a practising member of the Church I do not believe he was talking for the whole of his flock. Although I agreed with his closing words, I should also like to take issue with my noble friend Lord Boyd-Carpenter. Who says that this is "the end of the road"? When one is dealing with a matter such as this one does not think of it in terms of only one Parliament. This Government has had the courage to set something on its way. This Government has had the courage to try to commit to paper something which will overcome many of the problems which we have all been aware of for so many years past and have
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