Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

My Lords, I listened carefully to the debate in Committee, and hear the echoes of that in the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, in moving the amendment. Once again, I express the Government’s sympathy for the way in which the resettlement from the Chagos Islands in the 1960s occurred. The Government regret the way in which the Chagossians were resettled in the 1960s and the hardship that resulted. We understand that, from 1969 onwards, the vast majority of Chagossians who were settled in the British Indian Ocean Territory, principally on the island of Diego Garcia, are now resident in Mauritius. I also understand that the amendment would give an entitlement to register as a British citizen or a British Overseas Territories citizen to a person whose parent was a citizen of the United Kingdom colonies by virtue of birth in the British Indian Ocean Territory under Section 1 of the British Overseas Territories Act 2002, thus the intended beneficiaries of this provision would be second-generation Chagossians born outside the British Indian Ocean Territory. I have spoken at length to the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, on this issue, and he will understand the reluctance with which I must disappoint him. He himself referred in Committee on 4 March to ongoing discussions with the Foreign Office on the sensitive issues surrounding the Chagos Islands. I also understand that the all-party Chagos Islands group met on 18 March, which I hope considered the discussions that were held with Gillian Merron. I understand that that group endorsed the noble Lord’s amendments, but held the view that the principal concern of the Chagossians must be the issue of their right to return to British Indian Ocean Territory at some point in the future. This is not something that I can address here; thus, although I am personally deeply sympathetic to the position of second and subsequent generation Chagossians born in Mauritius, I regret that I am not in a position to do anything in the Bill. The noble Lord, Lord Avebury, has emphasised the importance of citizenship in tabling, and discussing, this amendment, but I hope he will forgive me for requesting that it be dealt with as part of the ongoing discussion with the Foreign Office, where it is only one of the wider issues relating to the United Kingdom’s response to the Chagossians’ plight. This issue needs to be considered in the longer term, which is why I hope the noble Lord will understand why I ask him—reluctantly—to withdraw his amendment.