HC Deb 04 March 1948 vol 448 c517
62. Mr. Keeling

asked the Secretary to the Treasury for what Government services in peace and in war, respectively, applicants or conscripts have to be British-born.

Mr. Jay

In the Civil Service, candidates for established posts in peace and in war must have British nationality, but must not necessarily be of British birth except in the case of posts under the Foreign Office and Defence Departments where, generally, British birth is required. The normal peacetime rules for unestablished Civil Service employment are the same as for established employment, but emergency legislation enacted during the recent war, and still in force, permits the employment of aliens in unestablished posts subject to suitable safeguards. Applicants for service in the Royal Navy, the Regular Army and the Regular Royal Air Force must, in peace and in war, be British subjects and, generally, the children of British subjects. Liability for service in the Armed Forces under the National Service (Armed Forces) Act, 1939, and the National Service Act, 1947, covers British subjects, including naturalised British subjects.

Wing-Commander Hulbert

Will the hon. Gentleman consider incorporating in future legislation a provision that Parliamentary candidates must be British subjects by birth?