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London the Secretary of State again minuted the Home Secretary urging him to use his discretion to register them all. This minute crossed with Mr Wardle's negative minute to Mr Goodlad of 10 August; but we understand that a reply from the Home Secretary is likely to issue in the next few days.
7. The key points of the argument are:
(a) This is a classic case of a small issue which has been whipped up by the Hong Kong media and is now being used as a litmus test of HMG's willingness to make an effort on behalf of Hong Kong. Every visiting Minister is asked about the case; our inability to give satisfaction to those concerned is an increasing embarrassment. It would be good for the Government's and Mr Patten's credibility if we could announce a settlement of the problem when Mr Goodlad visits Hong Kong in September.
(b) Only 220 or so individuals are concerned, most of whom will wish to stay in Hong Kong anyway, provided they have the insurance policy of full British citizenship.
(c) If the children's parents had not already had British Citizenship many of them would no doubt have qualified under the Nationality Scheme, and all their children would then have automatically received British Citizenship: this is an absurd anomaly.
(d) This is a self-contained group, and a gesture to them need have no implications elsewhere: the issue is whether we want to encourage people to stay in Hong Kong or to oblige them to uproot themselves and come to the United Kingdom: Hong Kong is different from other places affected by the British Nationality Act 1981 because of 1997, Tiananmen and the 1990 Hong Kong Nationality Scheme.
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N J Cox
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