FAYAFS
MON
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
Mrs C Kellas B4 Division Home Office Lunar House Wellesley Road
CROYDON
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I Dove
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Telephone 01-
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Your reference
Our reference
HKD 340/8
Date
16 May 1989
364
Dear Card,
FAC ENQUIRY ON HONG KONG: HOME OFFICE MEMORANDUM ON NATIONALITY
1. My colleague
John Hague spoke to you yesterday afternoon about the above memorandum. Our Secretary of State saw the memorandum and asked for several amendments to be made. I understand that the memorandum has now been submitted to the Committee. It is a great pity that there was no chance to have our Ministers' views taken into account. For the record, we have the following views:
(i) Paragraph 4: the emphatic rejection of "a middle way" seems a little inadvisable, given that we have now begun to consider the feasibility of such an approach. It would be better simply to describe the historical position in the following standard terms:
"The fact that Hong Kong BDTCs and BN (0)s do not enjoy automatic right of abode in the UK reflects the worldwide nationality and immigration policies of successive Governments since the early 1960s. As all parties acknowledged at the time there was need to take account of the fact that we were no longer able to proclaim a common imperial citizenship and grant the citizens of our colonies and former colonies automatic right of abode in this country".
(ii) Paragraph 15, (last sentence): the assurance given by Lord Glenarthur in 1986 was couched in rather stronger terms than those used by the Home Secretary. As we have relied upon them since then, they should be repeated here:
"We should consider it an obligation upon any future government to treat with very considerable and particular sympathy the case for admission to the UK of any individual British national who, against all our present expectations, came under pressure to leave Hong Kong".
(iii) Paragraph 24, line 11: We suggest the deletion of "There is no question .; but" and the next sentence to begin "The Government thought it right
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