TNAG-2714-FCO40-3920-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1993 — Page 8

14-JUL-1993 14:34

Gallagher

TRANSCRIPT MR ALASTAIR GOODLAD

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SELECT COMMITTEE 14 JULY 93

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acquire BNO passports. In response to these concerns the Home

Secretary has agreed, exceptionally, to allow BDTC passport

holders to retain these passports in addition to receiving their

BNO passports. The government have laid before the House an order

bringing into operation the phased scheme for issuing BNO

passports.

The second issue raised by the LEGCO panel was that of the Hong

Kong BDTC passport holders who are not of Chinese race, the

so-called ethnic minority. The government have carefully

considered again the case of giving this group of roughly 7,000

strong British citizenship, we have concluded that their position is adequately protected by arrangements already in place and that

there is no case for fresh legislation. Our memorandum, in

paragraph 42, sets out the position in greater detail.

The

Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Home Office, my Hon Friend

the Member for Bexhill and Battle, repeated in the House on 9 July

earlier assurances that we consider it an obligation from any

future government to consider with particular sympathy the case

the for admission to the United Kingdom of any Hong Kong resident

with solely British nationality in the unlikely event of their

coming under severe pressure to leave Hong Kong and having nowhere

else to go.

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