TNAG-1190-FCO40-1492-Implications-for-Hong-Kong-of-changes-in-the-British-nationa-1982 — Page 71

DRAFT SPEECH FOR 2ND READING OF LORD BRUCE OF DONINGTON'S FALKLAND ISLANDS (BRITISH CITIZENSHIP) BILL

1.

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Bruce of

Donington, on his persistence in pursuing, at this very late stage

in the Session, the cause of the inhabitants of the Falkland Islanders.

lle seeks to ensure that all the Islanders become British citizens.

As things stand, about three quarters of them will do so, when the

British Nationality Act 1981 comes into force on 1 January next year.

This is so whether the noble Lord's Bill becomes law or not. But the

remainder, about 400, may not do so because their ties are mainly with

the Falkland Islands, while their connections with the United Kingdom

are more distant.

2.

Those 400 would therefore hold the important parallel citizenship

which is called British Dependent Territories citizenship.

That

citizenship was deliberately designed to reflect, not a distancing of

the holders from the United Kingdom, but a recognition of the fact

that the holders' connexions are with a dependent territory rather than

the United Kingdom itself.

3. My Lords, the new citizenship arrangements now set out in Part II

of the British Nationality Act 1981 in no way weaken the constitutional

relationship of the United Kingdom with the Falkland Islands or any

other dependency. The Government have always made that absolutely plai

1.

/In the...