HL Deb 18 January 1967 vol 279 cc117-9

2.54 p.m.

LORD CLIFFORD OF CHUDLEIGH

My Lords, beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government—

  1. (1) Why the son of a British serving officer, the holder of a British passport at that time, born in the British Military Hospital in Singapore on March 17, 1948, was refused renewal of his British passport in June, 1966; and
  2. (2) Whether they will take steps to ensure that children born of British parents serving Her Majesty's Government in Commonwealth and Foreign Countries have a British passport by right and are not unknowingly denationalised.]

LORD CHALFONT

My Lords, so far as the first part of the noble Lord's Question is concerned, as has been explained to him before, the boy was not a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies and therefore was not eligible to hold a United Kingdom passport. Nevertheless, the Passport Office, far from refusing to renew the passport, exceptionally extended it for six months. The Home Secretary has now registered the boy as a United Kingdom citizen and his passport has accordingly been extended to full validity.

So far as the second part of the Question is concerned, normally such a person would he a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies and would of course retain that status throughout his life, but if he was born in a Colony or Protectorate which later became independent he would exchange that status for citizenship of the newly independent country unless either he or his father or grandfather was born or naturalised in the United Kingdom or one of the remaining Colonies. If he is still under 21 he can apply for restoration of citizenship to my right honourable friend the Home Secretary, who will then take into consideration the fact that his father had been in Crown Service at the time of his birth.

LORD CLIFFORD OF CHUDLEIGH

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his Answer. May I ask him the following few questions? In view of his first answer, why was the boy issued with a British passport in the first place? Secondly, would he not agree that as both the boy's grandparents were Members of your Lordships' House it would probably be considered by the people in government in Singapore as an insult rather than a flattery to have him inflicted on them? Furthermore, would he not agree that in this country there are thousands of families who for generations have been in the tea industry in Assam, in the rubber industry in Malaya, in customs in China, or in the missionary field, and so on, who have perpetually had this recurring business of children being born abroad but educated in and retiring to this country? Would he not agree that such children should have the right to a British passport? Finally, would he not agree that something should be done to warn people who now have British passports but who, as in this particular case, when they want to renew them, find that they have been made little Burmese, or whatever the nationality may be?

LORD CHALFONT

My Lords, the noble Lord has raised a great number of questions. So far as the question about the initial issue of passports is concerned, of course, the child of any citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies born anywhere outside the United Kingdom and Colonies does at birth become a citizen of the United Kingdom if his father was in Crown service under Her Majesty's Government at the time. Loss of citizenship is the result of provisions enacted by Parliament, and the provisions are in standard form. No one loses his United Kingdom citizenship under these Independence Acts unless he acquires at independence a new citizenship; and although he changes his citizenship he remains a British subject because both these citizenships are within the British Commonwealth.

So far as the question about Crown service generally is concerned—and I have much sympathy with what the noble Lord has said—the idea he has put forward would have the result of preserving the United Kingdom citizenship of a number of people who have become citizens of an independent Commonwealth country but who have no close connections by birth or parentage with this country and do not intend to make their future here. I think it is clear that the preservation of United Kingdom citizenship in these circumstances would be contrary to the general policy of citizenship accepted throughout the Commonwealth, which is based on the principle that a person shall acquire or preserve the citizenship of the country with which he is most closely connected by birth or parentage.

The noble Lord has gone into a number of other detailed points. I suggest that some are outside the framework of the Question he originally asked to-day, but if he would like to put down another Question on the subject I will ensure that it is answered as fully as possible.