HC Deb 06 December 1989 vol 163 cc258-9W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to withdraw passports issued to British subjects or restrict their use; and how many have been withdrawn or restricted in each of the last five years and 1989 to date.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

Withdrawal of a passport would be considered on the same basis as would refusal of an application, that is in the case of:

  1. (a) a minor whose journey was known to be contrary to a court order, to the wishes of a parent or other person or authority to whom a court had awarded custody, care and control or to the provisions of section 25(1) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, as amended, or section 56 of the Adoption Act 1976;
  2. (b) a person for whose arrest a warrant had been issued in the United Kingdom or who was wanted by the police on suspicion of a serious crime;
  3. (c) in very rare cases, a person whose past or proposed activities were so demonstrably undesirable that the grant or continued enjoyment of passport facilities would be contrary to the public interest;
  4. (d) a person repatriated at public expense until the debt has been repaid.

Records of withdrawals are maintained only for category (c). These are extremely rare and there were none in the period specified.

United Kingdom passports are valid for travel to all countries in the world, and there are no plans to restrict their use.