§ 45. Miss WILKINSONasked the Prime Minister whether any further steps have been taken towards giving to British women married to aliens the right to retain their own nationality; and whether he can promise this reform within the lifetime of the present Parliament?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir William Joynson-Hicks)I have been asked to reply. We must await the Report of the Committee of Experts mentioned by the Imperial Conference of 1926, and when the recommendations of that Committee are available they will have to be considered by a further Conference. I fear, therefore, that the answer to the last paragraph of the question must be in the negative.
§ Miss WILKINSONHas the right hon. Gentleman any idea as to when this Committee of experts will report, and is he not aware that a great deal of hardship 975 is caused to many English women by the present state of affairs, while foreign women, some of whom are quite undesirable, can obtain British nationality by merely going through the formality of marriage?
§ Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKSA Committee of the Imperial Conference dealt with the matter, and we have a Committee now sitting. Owing to the differences of opinion it will be a long time before we can get a complete report.
§ Miss WILKINSONAs it is likely to be a long time before the matter is dealt with, can the right hon. Gentleman's Department be more elastic in its review of the cases of British women of undoubted respectability who are stranded abroad and wish to return to their own country and nationality?
§ Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKSI very frequently do relax. If the hon. Member has any case in mind and will let me know about it, I shall personally go into it.