M
บ
740
[Mr. Shersby]
British Nationality Bill
27 OCTOBER 1981
hope that that will meet with your wishes, Mr. Speaker. I shall not refer to the Falkland Islands again during my remarks.
When their Lordships considered the amendment, they were faced with a text which referred entirely to the fact that the citizens of Gibraltar were to be treated in a special way because of their position as United Kingdom nationals for the purposes of the pre-accession treaties. No reference was made in the amendment to Gibraltar as such. It was only during the debate in another place that it became apparent that the consequences of accepting their Lordships' amendment would be to confer this special distinction on the citizens of one dependent territory as
ompared with citizens of another.
I read with great interest the remarks that were made another place by the Lord Chancellor in seeking to persuade their Lordships not to accept this amendment. He made the point that if the amendment were accepted it would have an effect upon the homogeneity and solidarity of the Commonwealth. He said that there were British citizens living in other dependent territories who could, as a result of that amendment being passed, feel that they were in a second class position.
I believe that the Lord Chancellor made an extremely valid point in reminding their Lordships that this was so. There is no doubt that the effect of this amendment will be to make British citizens in other dependent territories, 'including that to which I have already referred, feel that they are in some way different from the Gibraltarians, when many of them have a very much stronger claim to British citizenship than those who will get it under the
Gibraltar amendment.
In other dependent territories there are British citizens who can trace their ancestry for four, five or six generations, but because they are non-patrials they do not have the right of abode in the United Kingdom That is a very serious position for them. Consequently, they will look at the Gibraltar amendment and study the views expressed in another place by their Lordships, and they will be puzzled to know why it is that they are not to have the right of abode in this country whereas those who reside in Gibraltar are to have it.
I hope, therefore, that my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary will say something abut the position of those British citizens in other dependent territories who are non-. patrials and who do not have the right of abode in the United Kingdom, and that he will be able to give them some assurance that, although they are not to be treated in the same way as Gibraltarians, if their Lordships' amendment is accepted by this House, they may, nevertheless, receive very sympathetic consideration from the Home Office should they wish to enter this country at any time, particularly in times of difficulty which can be envisaged in certain territories around the world.
I hope, Mr. Speaker, that I have kept strictly within your ruling by not referring to another place in the South Atlantic but confining my remarks entirely to what I have described as the unfair discrimination caused by the amendment. I am most grateful to you, Mr. Speaker, for allowing me to make these remarks in this very important debate.
Mr. Speaker: I am obliged to the hon. Gentleman. I was tolerant.
British Nationality Bill
780
Mr. J. Enoch Powell: Despite the difficulties under which he was labouring, the hon. Member for Uxbridge (Mr. Shersby) has reminded all those of us who have been concerned in detail with this Bill of an unsatisfactory feature of the Bill with which I feel that none of us was pleased at the end. I do not think that the Government were satisfied. I do not think that the rest of us were satisfied. In delimiting our own citizenship, we were unable to solve the problem of what came to be known as the British dependent territories. Therefore, we solved it verbally rather than in reality. We created a citizenship, so we called it, which has none of the attributes of a citizenship. We created a common citizenship which has no common features. I think that we all know that this is a blemish upon what is bound to be a major settlement of our national law. In considering this Lords amendment, we are bound to be reminded of it, as the hon. Member for Uxbridge reminded the House of the difficulty.
Nevertheless, I cannot say that I am sorry, as one who, at an earlier stage, argued the special claims of Gibraltar, that they have to some extent been met by the Lords amendment or the amendment which is, one gathers, to supersede it. However, they have not been fully met for the following reason. We argued the case that, if Gibraltarians are as such nationals, they should-straightforwardly-be defined by the Bill as British citizens. The orginal way in which we attempted to do that, was by bringing Gibraltar within the definition-for the purposes of the Bill-of the United Kingdom.
J
According to this amendment they are not being recognised as British citizens. As individuals they are being given, individually, an entitlement to claim and to pay-presumably separately-for registration. That falls short of the logical consequence of the acceptance of Gibraltarians as such as British nationals. I can understand why the Government, in both Houses, limited and qualified the nature of their concession in that way. They could claim that they were not treating the territory differently but merely some of the people who happened to turn up. The Government have used a device that is not wholly satisfactory. The people of Gibraltar have been generous in welcoming this form of acceptance.
7.30 pm
Owing to the guillotine motion, it is possible that Lords amendment No. 33, will not be reached. I hope that I shall have your connivance, Mr. Speaker, and that of the House if I refer to something that occurs in the Home Secretary's amendment, but that anticipates his amendment to Lords amendment No. 33. I refer to the expression “British Dependent Territories' Citizen". In anticipation, the right hon. Gentleman has written that into his amendment. I believe that I am right in saying that it is within the power: of those who, between the completion of parliamentary proceedings on the Bill and Royal Assent, have a duty to prepare it for Rayal Assent, to make certain changes, if necessary, to the punctuation. If the punctutation is manifestly inaccurate or fails to correspond with the clear intentions of both Houses of Parliament, I believe that that. power exists.
I suggest that it might be possible to treat a comma and an apostrophe, for this purpose, as being of like effect:- That would enable the right hon. Gentleman to avoid implanting a most horrible solecism on British nationality* law. The apostrophe that follows "Territories”—instead of
398
Page 75Page 76
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.