Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his kind remarks; gratitude is the order of the moment, if not the day. I also congratulate him on the passion and conviction that he has put into his campaign for stateless people, in particular stateless children. While I accept his passion and conviction, I am sure that he knows that there is a point of principle at issue between the Government and his party. As I have previously indicated, the Government believe that the good-character application should apply to all those seeking British citizenship. It is appropriate that, despite what the noble Lord said, this route on good character should apply not only to those who are stateless. Section 3(2) is not principally a provision that affects stateless children; its main beneficiaries are parents who are British citizens by descent and who have lived in the UK for three years at any time before the child’s birth. The fact that stateless minors can apply under this section does not mean that it is a statelessness provision. In theory, stateless children could apply under any of the ““minor”” provisions, such as Section 1(3) or Section 1(4). In an attempt to be relatively brief, perhaps I may turn to the noble Lord’s other amendment. Amendment 42A would change the requirements of Section 3(2) retrospectively in respect of the status of the grandparents at the time of birth, but I am also unconvinced about that argument. Although it might bring clarity to the position of grandparents, we believe that it breaches the entirely appropriate point that, if the grandparent was not a British citizen at the time that the parent who would be a British citizen by descent was born, there should not be a right to British citizenship under Section 3(2). It is a core principle of nationality law that those who wish to become British citizens must have a close connection with the United Kingdom. This amendment would create a route to citizenship for a child with a limited, if any, connection with the UK. However, it is appropriate that in an exceptional case of hardship, where a child of a British citizen by descent may not acquire the nationality of his or her birthplace, such children can be considered under the exercise of discretion. Therefore, although I ask the House to accept the Government’s amendments, supported by the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, excepting the points that he has made, the Government do not accept the case to extend the categories of those affected to those with a lesser connection with the UK. I ask the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment and to accept the Government’s amendments to allow for minors in this group to register for British citizenship, some of whom might otherwise be without nationality.