UK Borders Bill

My Lords, that is one reason why I want to clarify things. The legislation therefore provided for the registration of those born after 7 February 1961. We were not persuaded that it was right to go any further than this, given the principle that an adult seeking to be granted British citizenship should normally be able to demonstrate his personal connections with this country and the fact that those who would benefit from any further relaxation of the requirements in the 1981 Act were at least 46 years old and could be well established elsewhere. There has been pressure to change the law to allow those born before 1961 to benefit from this provision, which we have resisted on the grounds that there would always have to be a cut-off point, about which there has been some debate subsequently, and that those born before 1961 could not have benefited from the 1979 concession. Although we have done much to right the wrongs of previous nationality legislation, the current position does not allow the adult children of British mothers the same rights to British citizenship as those of British fathers and we want to correct this. However, to give them a right of abode in the United Kingdom without citizenship is only a partial solution and not the way to put this right, as the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, said. This amendment would have a much wider scope than the current registration provision, as it would confer the right of abode in the United Kingdom on any person who would have qualified but for his or her date of birth. However, it is our view that the rights associated with British citizenship, including the right of abode in the United Kingdom, should be closely linked with British citizenship. We would not wish to create a category of people who held the right of abode without having acquired British citizenship. We would like to legislate to give British citizenship to those affected and so have committed ourselves to addressing this problem, as noble Lords already have detected, in a simplification Bill. Because of its wider scope, it will allow us to provide an avenue to citizenship for those concerned, rather than just a right of abode. I have asked officials to give me an idea of how quickly we could right this wrong and ensure that this problem is sorted out. There will be a consultation which will begin before November. We expect, therefore, a draft Bill to be produced next summer. One would then normally expect a Bill to be introduced in November 2008. It is not in my gift to say what will or will not be in the Queen’s Speech in November next year, but that is an indicative timetable, and is as far as I can go. I express my continued gratitude to all those who have worked on this. I first alighted on the problem when it rather hit me in the face at Question Time in your Lordships’ House, and I must say that I was left scratching my head, genuinely puzzled over how the situation could have arisen. I looked at what previous Ministers had had to say, but I could see that they were probably struggling as well. In fairness, we have come up with an approach that will work. This Bill is not the right vehicle because the issue does not fall naturally within its scope, I am also grateful that the major opposition party has thought about this as well and has given its support to other Peers who have raised the issue. We have now reached a satisfactory conclusion. Just one outstanding question that was raised by the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, is left to answer. He asked whether we would now withdraw our reservation to the Convention on Nationality. That is a fair point. We will look into this—