Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill

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Standing Committee E

Thursday 27 October 2005

(Morning)

The Committee consisted of the following Members:

Chairmen: †Sir Nicholas Winterton, Mr. Eric Illsley

†Bellingham, Mr. Henry (North-West Norfolk) (Con)

†Brown, Lyn (West Ham) (Lab)

†Burnham, Andy (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department)

†Gerrard, Mr. Neil (Walthamstow) (Lab)

†Gillan, Mrs. Cheryl (Chesham and Amersham) (Con)

†Harris, Dr. Evan (Oxford, West and Abingdon) (LD)

†Hodgson, Mrs. Sharon (Gateshead, East and Washington, West) (Lab)

†Kawczynski, Daniel (Shrewsbury and Atcham) (Con)

†Leech, Mr. John (Manchester, Withington) (LD)

†Mahmood, Mr. Khalid (Birmingham, Perry Barr) (Lab)

†Malins, Mr. Humfrey (Woking) (Con)

†McCarthy-Fry, Sarah (Portsmouth, North) (Lab)

†McNulty, Mr. Tony (Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality)

†Miliband, Edward (Doncaster, North) (Lab)

†Prosser, Gwyn (Dover) (Lab)

†Ryan, Joan (Lord Commissioner of Her Majesty's Treasury)

†Scott, Mr. Lee (Ilford, North) (Con)

Dr. John Benger, Mr. Frank Cranmer, Committee Clerks

†attended the Committee

[Sir Nicholas Winterton in the Chair]

Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill

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9 am

The Chairman: I welcome hon. Members to the penultimate sitting on this important Bill. We made amazing progress latterly on Tuesday. I am sure that we will have constructive sittings again today.

Schedule 3

Repeals

The Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality (Mr. Tony McNulty): I beg to move amendment No. 112, in schedule 3, page 29, line 40, column 2, at beginning insert ''In section 40A(3), the word ''and'' before paragraph (d).'.

The Chairman: With this it will be convenient to discuss the following amendments:

Government new clause 4—Deprivation of Citizenship—

'(1) For section 40(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981 (c. 61) (deprivation of citizenship: prejudicing UK interests) substitute—

''(2) The Secretary of State may by order deprive a person of a citizenship status if the Secretary of State is satisfied that deprivation is conducive to the public good.''

(2) At the end of section 40A(3) of that Act (deprivation: appeal) add—

'', and

(e) section 108 (forged document: proceedings in private).'';

(and omit the word ''and'' before section 40A(3)(d)).'.

And the following amendments thereto: (a), after proposed new subsection 40(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981, insert—

'(2A) The powers in subsection (1) shall not apply if the effect is to render the person stateless.'.

(b), after proposed new subsection 40(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981, insert—

'(2A) In exercising powers under subsection (2) the Secretary of State must be satisfied that deprivation of a person's citizenship is justified on the basis of—

(a) national security,

(b) maintaining good international relations,

(c) maintaining public order, or

(d) the person having committed offences set out in section 1(1), 2, 5, 6, 9, 10 or 11 of the Terrorism Act 2006 [c. ].'.

Government new clause 5—Deprivation of right of abode—

'(1) After section 2 of the Immigration Act 1971 (right of abode) insert—

''2A Deprivation of right of abode

(1) The Secretary of State may by order remove from a specified person a right of abode in the United Kingdom which he has under section 2(1)(b).

(2) The Secretary of State may make an order under subsection (1) in respect of a person only if the Secretary of State thinks that it would be conducive to the public good for

 
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the person to be excluded or removed from the United Kingdom.

(3) An order under subsection (1) may be revoked by order of the Secretary of State.

(4) While an order under subsection (1) has effect in relation to a person—

(a) section 2(2) shall not apply to him, and

(b) any certificate of entitlement granted to him shall have no effect.''

(2) In section 82(2) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (c. 41) (right of appeal: definition of immigration decision) after paragraph (ia) insert—

''(ib) a decision to make an order under section 2A of that Act (deprivation of right of abode),''.'.

And the following amendment thereto: (a), at end of subsection (2), insert—

'In exercising powers under subsection (2) the Secretary of State must be satisfied that deprivation of a person's citizenship is justified on the basis of—

(a) national security,

(b) maintaining good international relations,

(c) maintaining public order,

(d) the person having committed offences set out in section 1(1), 2, 5, 6, 9, 10 or 11 of the Terrorism Act 2006 [c. ].'.

Government new clause 6—Acquisition of British nationality, &c. Mr. McNulty: I share your optimism about our deliberations today, Sir Nicholas. We have come to a series of new clauses that relate not just to the events of 7 and 21 July, but in part reflect our wider response over the last year to the general terrorist threat. I shall make three quick points by way of introduction. First, of course, the backdrop to our deliberations is the proceedings on the Terrorism Bill in the Chamber last night. I hope that while they inform our debate, we do not have reruns of the debates downstairs.

Secondly, the new clauses are specific to particular matters relating to asylum and immigration. While the wider proceedings on the Terrorism Bill are germane, I ask the Committee to bear it in mind that there is a narrow focus to each of the new clauses, which applies not to millions or thousands but to small, albeit significant numbers of people.

Thirdly, on a point of procedure, as much as we possibly can, given that the Terrorism Bill is the backdrop, there may be cross-referencing in terms of words, definitions and criteria. It is not for me to pre-empt the passage of the Terrorism Bill, but it may be amended and in so far as the two parliamentary procedures align, we will try to ensure that there is appropriate cross-referencing of definitions and criteria as well as clauses.

Following the terrorist attacks in London on 7 July, the Home Secretary published a list of behaviours on 24 August which, he said, would form the basis for the use of his discretionary powers to deport and exclude from the United Kingdom those whose presence here was deemed not to be conducive to the public good. Such behaviours included speaking or publishing material which encourages or provokes terrorism or other serious criminal activity.

It is, in our view, now essential that we have similar powers to withhold and to remove British nationality
 
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and the right of abode in the United Kingdom where an individual is found to have engaged in such activity. It is wrong that certain individuals with rights of residence elsewhere should be allowed to acquire and then to shelter behind their British citizenship, or their right of abode here, so as to avoid the consequences that would otherwise befall them.

New Clause 4 would replace an existing criterion for deprivation of British nationality, namely that the person concerned had done something which was

''seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the United Kingdom or a British overseas territory''

with the criterion that the Secretary of State deemed it conducive to the public good to deprive a person of his or her British nationality.

I emphasise that the rights of appeal against deprivation of nationality provided for in the current law are unaffected by the amendments, except to the extent that new clause 4 would also enable the asylum and immigration tribunal to receive evidence in private where it was alleged that a document relied upon by either party was a forgery and disclosure of how that forgery was detected would be contrary to the public interest. It already has that jurisdiction in the case of appeals against asylum and immigration decisions. Amendment No. 112 follows consequentially from that minor change. The proviso that, unless nationality was in the first place obtained by deception, deprivation of nationality cannot proceed where the end result would be statelessness, will continue to have effect.

Section 2 of the Immigration Act 1971 confers the right of abode in the United Kingdom—the right to enter and remain here without any need for leave to do so—on all British citizens and on certain other Commonwealth citizens who had that right before the law on right of abode was last amended in 1983. Falling into the latter category are, primarily, citizens of Commonwealth countries such as Australia and Canada whose mothers were born in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth citizen women married before 1983 to men with the right of abode here.

In the case of British citizens who have engaged in certain unacceptable behaviours there is, as I have just explained, a mechanism for taking away British citizenship and, thus, the right of abode that goes with it. There is no similar mechanism for taking away the right of abode where that right derives, in part, from citizenship of a Commonwealth country other than the United Kingdom.

New Clause 5 would enable the Secretary of State, by order relating to a named individual, to remove a right of abode where it was considered conducive to the public good that the individual be excluded or removed from the United Kingdom. There is a precedent for that in the Immigration Act 1988, which prevents exercise of the right of abode by certain women seeking to join husbands in this country to whom they are polygamously married and who have already been joined by another wife. But whereas the restriction in the 1988 Act applies to a defined class of people, the restriction that we propose could be
 
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imposed only on an individual basis and would be subject to a right of appeal, either to the asylum and immigration tribunal in the first instance or, where sensitive information might otherwise be disclosed in the course of the appeal, to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission. Our exercise of the power would be informed, but not wholly constrained, by the published list of ''unacceptable behaviours'' to which I have referred.

The third new clause in this group is new clause 6. It proposes that those eligible to receive British nationality by registration should first be required by law to satisfy the Secretary of State that they are of good character. At present such a requirement applies only to those seeking to acquire British nationality by naturalisation. The registration route is reserved for those people—minors, certain persons already holding a form of British nationality, and certain persons with ancestral connections to the UK—whose particular circumstances are deemed to merit varying degrees of exemption from the full rigours of the naturalisation process. We are aligning the two processes of nationality by naturalisation and registration so that they have a common legal base.

An exception would continue to be made in a small number of cases where, because of our obligations under the 1961 United Nations convention on the reduction of statelessness, it would not in general be possible to refuse on character grounds where statelessness would be the result. These are a fairly complex way of doing fairly straightforward things. I have put on the record the reasons for new clauses 4, 5 and 6 and I commend them to the Committee.

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Prepared 27 October 2005