My Lords, I rise to speak to a number of amendments in this group in my name; namely, Amendments 98A to 98H. I also oppose Clauses 33 and 34 standing part; those notices stand in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Ludford, and I have added my name to them. I am grateful for the support of the noble Baroness, Lady Lister of Burtersett, for each of my amendments and the clause stand part notices. This is a coherent suite of amendments: they do one thing but are necessary to do that thing throughout a whole section of the Bill that, in essence, covers Clauses 30 to 36, which stand together as a form of deprivation. I am grateful to Amnesty for its assistance in drafting these amendments; I should also say right at the outset that I am grateful to the Minister, my noble friend Lord Murray, for the time he gave to a meeting in advance for us to discuss them.
The essence of what is happening is that the Bill has a two-step deterrence mechanism. It is frankly and openly deterrent, designed to deter people from setting off on a certain course. The first step in that deterrence, and to my mind a very powerful one, is the prospect of rapid removal from the United Kingdom to another country. Coming on top of the money that people have paid, as they have in many cases, to cross the channel or for whatever their mode of arrival, I would have thought that the prospect of immediate removal is a very significant deterrent indeed.
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However, the Bill does not stop at that. In Clauses 30 to 36 it adds a further level of deterrence. That is a denial of—a ban on—acquiring UK citizenship. That ban falls into two distinct parts: one is a ban on acquiring citizenship by way of naturalisation and the other is a ban on acquiring citizenship by way of registration. While the noble Baroness, Lady Ludford, spoke in broad terms about these clauses—equivalent to taking a mallet to them—noble Lords will realise that I am getting narrower and narrower. Perhaps I am approaching this more with a scalpel, because I am concerned with the question not of naturalisation but of registration.
The first reason is that naturalisation is a concession granted by the state to foreign nationals to allow them to become British. Except in very limited circumstances, we have no international obligation to grant naturalisation
to people; it is entirely a matter for our Parliament and the laws that we make. It is inevitable that Parliament will impose conditions on who it allows to be naturalised; indeed, we already impose conditions, such as passing examinations, going through certain procedures, residence requirements, and so on. It is inevitable that Parliament will impose conditions on naturalisation and, if Parliament chooses to impose this condition, whether we like it or not, one might object to it politically, but it is not a great constitutional matter. Noble Lords will have noticed that my amendment does nothing to limit the Secretary of State’s power—indeed, duty—to remove persons from the jurisdiction who qualify under the four criteria set out in Clause 2.
This brings us down narrowly to the question of registration. Registration is not a concession granted by the state. It is a process that was, in fact, introduced shortly after the Second World War by the Attlee Government to allow people who are already British to register that nationality because it is not patent or obvious on the surface. The laws of citizenship are complex; people fall between the cracks. The history of Empire and Commonwealth means that people sometimes have difficulty demonstrating their British nationality or their UK citizenship because they have been born in other countries or documents are not always available. It is an evidence-based process, so it is a matter of showing the evidence, proving the descent and providing a certain level of documentation. Then it is for the authorities to make a decision based on that evidence, on a balance in some cases, on whether the person in question is entitled to British citizenship—not whether they may apply for it, not whether it may be given to them as a concession, but whether they are already British. It is this process that the Bill wishes to see people banned from pursuing.
Not all routes to the registration of British citizenship are eliminated by the Bill but four routes are specified. Each has its own clause, which is why a number of amendments are necessary to separate them out. They relate to British citizenship, British Overseas Territory citizenship, British overseas citizenship, and a very small group, if it exists at all, known as British subjects. It is impossible to say how many people would fall into these categories; it probably is not a very large number, but we know that a large percentage of them are likely to be children. I am not going to dwell on that further at the moment because I know that the noble Baroness, Lady Lister of Burtersett, is going to make some comments in that regard.
This raises a paradox and a question of principle. The paradox is that we will have deported from this country people who might, at a later stage, be able to demonstrate that they had a right of access to this country. We are depriving them of the ability to demonstrate that they had that right of access, though they may not have known it—documents and evidence may not have been available—at the time that they were deported. Therefore, the Secretary of State would have been wholly excused in not knowing it either—why would the Secretary of State have known it if the person did not know it? It is a very odd paradox that it works reflexively, so to speak, but does not allow a correction of that reflexive punishment.
I hope I anticipate correctly that one of the things my noble friend the Minister might say is, “Do we really want, as British citizens, people who would behave in such an indecent way as to turn up on Dover beach in a small boat? Surely they should have applied in the correct and appropriate way”. But that goes to the heart of the principle: that time and again we find this Home Office mentality that British citizenship to which one is entitled is a reward for good behaviour. It is not. British citizenship to which one is entitled can never be a reward for good behaviour.
My argument is fairly straightforward. These provisions are unnecessary because the deterrent effect of deportation seems to me sufficient. Not only are they unnecessary but they are paradoxical in a slightly bizarre way, because they prevent someone acquiring something that they are entitled to but which, in so acquiring, would have nullified the original sin, so to speak. Just as much, the provisions cheapen through their mentality British citizenship. If something to which one is entitled is little better than a library ticket or a voucher for sweeties then what really are we saying about British citizenship?
If the Government wanted to accommodate some of the concerns raised in your Lordships’ Committee over the past few days, this would be the perfect item for my noble friend to accommodate. It would have no detrimental effect on the operation of the Bill, it would strengthen notions of British citizenship as something valuable, enduring and an entitlement, and it would please many noble Lords in the Committee.