Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [Lords]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely correct, but there is more to it than that. Let me explain my own position. I was born on 24 April 1949. Many of the children with whom I went to school were born after the relevant date and emigrated with their mum and dad to Greater London. Today, they would probably deem themselves Londoners—their accent, tradition, culture, background and schooling is London—yet they cannot opt to be British under the current position because they were born in Dublin, Donegal or Kerry. There are therefore people in Northern Ireland, but also in Greater London and some of the other great conurbations, to which there was a lot of post-war Irish immigration, who were born in the Republic after 18 April 1949, but cannot designate themselves British. We are all proud of the fact the United Kingdom armed forces today include a significant tranche of recruits from the Irish Republic, particularly though not exclusively in the Irish Guards. Those young men serve in the United Kingdom armed forces and contribute a great deal. Many have made the ultimate sacrifice and distinguished themselves by their gallantry, yet they are prevented from being British. I am not very up on contemporary music, but there are some distinguished show-business people, for example, Geldof, who were born after 1949, whose United Kingdom honours are prefaced with an explanation that they are honorary. That is a pity and it is also ludicrous. Somebody born before 1949 would be the real thing—an OBE or a knight and so on. We need to rationalise the position. New clause 1 is in the spirit of all that has happened in bringing communities together and in recognising parity of esteem. Perhaps the Minister's brief will state that it would create precedents, but it would not. Our relationship with Ireland is sui generis—unique. That was reflected by Parliament in 1949, when it passed the Ireland Act. In the face of the Republic's declaration in the Oireachtas's 1948 Act—it unilaterally, but correctly decided that it wanted to be a republic—Clem Attlee's Government passed the Ireland Act 1949, which stated that people from Ireland would have total parity of treatment in the franchise and so on. Many people have served in the House who are Irish citizens.