BRITISH NATIONALITY BILL (Hansard, 18 June 1965)

§ Mrs. Lena Jeger (Holborn and St. Pancras, South)
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.
So far the Bill has had a most expeditious passage, for which I am grateful to hon. Members on both sides of the House. I hope that it will go on its way with this comparatively unreal celerity and that it may quickly pass into law.
It is a small Bill which seeks to put right certain difficult anomalies affecting alien women who are married to British subjects without citizenship. It is well known that the status of British subjects or Commonwealth citizens—both terms having the same meaning under the British Nationality Act, 1948—derives from possession of citizenship of either the United Kingdom and Colonies, or some Commonwealth country. But there is a less well known classification of human beings known as British subjects without citizenship. In an ideal world of human amity, the labels of nationality which we seek to pin on men and women should be of declining importance, but we have to legislate for the present and that is why it is necessary for us to put this small injustice right. It is small in the complicated structure of nationality law, but it will not be a small matter to the individuals involved.
The status of British subjects without citizenship was an invention of the British Nationality Act, 1948,and was meant to be of assistance to a number of people continuing for the most part to live in territories which were originally British colonies. When those Colonies became of independent status and able to give their 1077 own rights of citizenship, there were a number of people continuing to have their homes in those countries, but not feeling able, or perhaps not able for various reasons, to acquire citizenship of the newly independent country. Many of those people have long-standing ties and connections with the United Kingdom or with other parts of Europe and they have chosen to use their rights under our existing law to acquire the status of British subjects without citizenship. There are about 1 million such people throughout the world, many of them living in India and Pakistan, some in Ceylon, while others may have moved to different parts M. Asia or Africa.
It may well be asked why this should matter. In many ways the practical difficulties of the situation are limited to the status of the wives. If a British subject with full citizenship marries an alien woman, she is able to apply for her husband's nationality and become a full British subject. But if a British subject without citizenship—and I apologise for the length of the phrase, but I must continue to use it for the sake of accuracy—marries an alien woman, she has no right at present even to apply for the same nationality status as her husband. This may not only cause difficulties for the woman concerned, particularly after the death of the husband when the wife may well be living in a country foreign to her, but it puts us in some technical breach of the United Nations Convention on the Nationality of Married Women. That is an additional reason why the House should expedite the passage of the Bill.
I should refer to the fact that there are about 78,000 British subjects without citizenship living in the Republic of Ireland who have used their existing rights, though living in Eire, to apply for this status, and the Bill will convey the same rights on the alien wives of British subjects without citizenship living in the Republic of Ireland.
The Bill will apply to a declining number of people. The figures I have given are just estimates, of course. The Bill applies only to the number of these people who may wish to marry alien wives, and that is a completely unpredictable figure. The number of people concerned will be declining also because this classification under the 1948 Act was intended to apply 1078 only to people alive al that time. It is expected that their children will acquire citizenship from the countries of their birth and it is not intended that this classification should be transmitted to the children of British subjects without citizenship. Therefore, although I am asking the House to add to their number by giving alien wives the right to be included, by the time the next generation comes along the total number should be declining. One would hope that it would decline, because in many ways this is an anomalous status which was intended to meet particular difficulties, and it has done so.
The Bill makes a special point of including the widows of such persons in these new rights. It also extends in some way the British Nationality (No. 2) Act, 1964 introduced by my hon. Friend the Member for Dagenham (Mr. Parker), for whose work in these matters we are all much indebted. Clause 4 will extend certain rights to the Stateless children of mothers who become British subjects without citizenship under Clause 1, but it is intended that these shall be the only children to whom it should apply, as we all look forward to full rights of citizenship being accorded to the next generation in the countries which are their homes and in which, for the most part, they have been born.
I hope that the Measure will go on its way as speedily as possible. It will remove an injustice which can give rise to considerable difficulties in the complicated modern world, and I ask the House to give it a Third Reading today.

§ Mr. John Parker (Dagenham)
I support the Bill and what has been said by my hon. Friend the Member for Holborn and St. Pancras, South (Mrs. Lena Jeger). Having been interested in this subject and having introduced a rather similar Bill last year to remove other anomalies, I know how complicated the matter is. I hope that the day is not too far distant when we shall have a considerable simplification of the law of British nationality. In my view, the simplest thing to do would be to give all children of British women born abroad British nationality. I understand that there are two conflicting ideas on nationality current internationally. One idea is that children born abroad should automatically take the 1079 nationality of the father. The other is that children should take the nationality of the nation or country in which they are born. In Britain, we have attempted to incorporate both these ideas to some extent in our nationality laws.
In the middle ages, it was the general practice in England for children of all English subjects, whether the subject was a man or a woman, to be counted as English. This, of course, gave the illegitimate children of English women born abroad English nationality. When the Union with Scotland took place, this was, fortunately, included in the law for the United Kingdom, but in the middle of the 18th century male prejudices came to a head and the right of children of British women born abroad to have British nationality was removed from the Statute Book. Since that time, various anomalies have arisen, some of which were removed by the British Nationality Act, 1948, some by the Act for which I was responsible last year, and some will be removed by this Bill. As I say, I hope that the day is not far distant when we shall simplify the whole position by reverting to what was the much more sensible law of England in the Middle Ages and of the United Kingdom when it was first set up on the Union with Scotland, and before some unfortunate alterations were made in the middle of the 18th century.
I welcome the Bill and I hope that it will have a speedy passage, without objection either in this House or in the other place.

§ The Solicitor-General (Sir Dingle Foot)
In contrast to earlier days this week, this has been a most harmonious Parliamentary day and fortunately I need do nothing to disturb the harmony. It gives me great pleasure on behalf of the Government to thank my hon. Friend the Member for Holborn and St. Pancras, South (Mrs. Lena Jeger) and her supporters in their action for introducing the Bill and piloting it through Committee.
My hon. Friend has explained its purpose so clearly that there is little I need add. As she told the House, there are certain classes of persons who are British subjects without being citizens of any Commonwealth country. There are those in former Colonial Territories which are 1080 now independent sovereign States within the Commonwealth who either have not chosen or who are not eligible to become citizens of the countries in which they still live, and there are, as she said, Irish citizens, about 78,000 of them, who have availed themselves of their rights under Section 2(1) of the British Nationality Act, 1948, and elected, despite their Irish citizenship, to remain British subjects. In both these cases, if their wives are aliens, the wives are not, under the present law, themselves eligible to become British subjects.
Hon. Members in all parts of the House will agree that this is an anomaly which should be removed, and in removing it, as my hon. Friend said, we are merely carrying out our obligations under a United Nations Convention. For these reasons, I welcome the Bill and I congratulate my hon. Friend for the way in which she has carried it through Committee and commended it to the House on Third Reading today.
It was appropriate that a contribution to the debate should be made by my hon. Friend the Member for Dagenham (Mr. Parker) because he was responsible last year for piloting through the House the British Nationality (No. 2) Act, 1964, a Measure to deal with the acquisition of British nationality by Stateless children. As my hon. Friend said, similar provision is made in the present Bill for children of the wives with whom we are concerned.
I support the Motion for the Third Reading.