Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

My Lords, this proposed new clause would affect those born in the United Kingdom after 1983 whose fathers are British and whose mothers are neither British nor have settled in the United Kingdom. Before 1983, a child born in the UK was automatically a British citizen. After 1983, there was no entitlement due to birth in the UK. After the passing of Section 9 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, this changed, so that children born to British fathers who are not married to the non-British, non-settled mothers are deemed to be born British if their fathers can prove paternity. However, that change affected only those people born after 1 July 2006. It has done nothing for those who were born between 1983 and 2006 in the circumstances I have just described. Therefore, for 23 years we have had the existence of this discrimination against men. The proposed new clause in Amendment 47 allows those people born to British fathers whose mothers are not married to their fathers and who are not British citizens to register as British citizens if their rights to this derive from paternity. It also assists those who were born outside the UK in similar circumstances. All that the proposed new clause does is address historical discrimination against a small group of British men whose children now suffer from that discrimination. When I detailed the situation in Committee, the noble Lord, Lord Brett, said that the Government’s position was that this proposal was unnecessary in practice. In a follow-up letter to my noble friend Lord Avebury, the noble Lord, Lord Brett, referred to the discretion which is available under Section 3(1) of the British Nationality Act 1981, which is the discretion to register any child. The noble Lord, Lord Brett, therefore contends that the proposal is unnecessary in relation to children. We agree with that, as Section 3(1) benefits only children. As things stand, some of the children born to those fathers between 1983 and 2006, which is the period we address in this proposed new clause, are now adults. If the amendment were to be accepted, the small number of adults who fall into this gap of some 23 years would benefit from the discretion which was accorded to children under the 1981 Act. This Government have a good record on anti-discrimination and can only further enhance it if this discrimination against the children of a small group of men is removed through the insertion of this clause. I beg to move.