TNAG-1377-FCO40-1825-Future-of-Hong-Kong-legislation-Hong-Kong-Bill-1985 — Page 307

HKK 040/2.

10 JAN 1985

CONFIDENTIAL

Dr Wilsber

PS/Lady Young Muster.

House of hard's Hand

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FROM:

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DATE:

4 January 1985

Cc:

Private Secretary

PS/Mr Luce

Sir W Harding

Mr Fifoot, Legal

Advisers

Parliamentary Unit

LEGISLATION COMMITTEE, 9 JANUARY: HONG KONG BILL

1.

A

B

C

2.

it

I submit:

i) Lady Young's brief for the meeting of the Legislation

Committee on 9 January;

ii) the Memorandum by the Secretary of State, to be considered by the Committee;

iii) the latest draft of the Hong Kong Bill.

i f

Mr Eldon asked me to submit this briefing on 4 January even could not be finalised in every way. It is conceivable that

there could be further developments over the title of the new form of nationality status for former Hong Kong BDTCs (para 5 of the Memorandum and para 7 (i) of the brief). If the briefing on this

point needs updating I shall submit a revised version on 8 January.

3. I think that there should be general acceptance in the Committee of the need for urgency in putting the Bill through al1

its stages, although the exact timetable will of course be for

discussion in the light of the concerns of Parliamentary Managers. On substance the only Minister who is likely to speak at any length is the Home Office representative. At official level we have no

major differences with the Home Office which are likely to be

reflected in discussion. We accept the Home Office point that the

CONFIDENTIAL