Mr. J. Enoch Powellasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has now considered the need to amend the wording of new clause 9 of the British Nationality Bill to ensure that he or his successors are able legally to give effect to his undertaking that its provisions will cover all persons to which the original clause 7 of the Bill extended.
§ Mr. WhitelawYes.
My view is that subsection 3(a) of new clause 9 would enable me or my successors to deal with cases of this kind.
The words
special circumstances of any particular casemean that each case would be separately considered and that discretion could properly be exercised in a number of cases which exhibited broadly similar features. In the light of the undertaking which the Government have given, it seems clear that there would be special circumstances in any case to which the original clause 7 would have extended but which was not covered by new clause 9.