My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have spoken in this debate, especially the noble Lord, Lord Anderson, who has tabled
these amendments; I am very grateful for his expertise in this matter. I also acknowledge Amendment 20, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady D’Souza, and Amendment 22, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle.
The House will recall that we debated this matter at length in Committee. I say now, as I said then, that inaccurate and irresponsible media reporting continues to fuel fear and concern about how Clause 9 is to operate. I will repeat what I said then, starting with my noble friend Lady Verma: the deprivation power itself is not altered. Clause 9 does not alter the reasons why a person is to be deprived of British citizenship and we are not stripping millions of their citizenship.
To answer the noble Baroness, Lady D’Souza, and others, Clause 9 does not target dual nationals, those from ethnic minorities or particular faiths, or indeed women and girls; there is no secret decision-making, and law-abiding people have nothing to fear from Clause 9. It is simply about the mechanics of how a deprivation decision are conveyed to the individual concerned.
6.30 pm
To answer the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chelmsford, the deprivation power is compliant with the UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the 2014 power has never been used. To answer the points made by the noble Lords, Lord Macdonald of River Glaven, Lord Rosser and Lord Paddick, deprivation of citizenship on conducive grounds is rightly reserved for those who pose a threat to the UK or whose conduct involves very high harm. It is not for minor offences. Deprivation on fraud grounds is for those who obtain their citizenship fraudulently and therefore were never entitled to it in the first place. Decisions are made following careful consideration of advice from officials and, in respect of conducive deprivations, lawyers, and in accordance with international law, including the UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, as I said. To answer the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Rosser, two in five UK citizens are not high-harm individuals.
The noble Lords, Lord Anderson and Lord Carlile, very helpfully gave some examples and I will add to them. In cases where we do not have a last known address—regarding my noble friend Lady Mobarik’s point—we may not have it, or to use it would be damaging to national security, which is a good reason for this provision. If you imagine someone who has been spying for another country against the UK and is now living at an unknown address in that country; or the head of an organised crime group whose current whereabouts is only known through a police informant and to use the address would put the life of the informant at risk; or an ISIL supporter who has committed terrorist attacks and is hiding in the mountains in Syria, these are very good examples of why we would need to use the no-notice power.
Such people pose a direct threat to the safety and security of the UK, and it simply cannot be right that our hands are tied because we cannot take away their British citizenship without giving them notice of that decision. Where we have already taken a decision to deprive someone of citizenship, it is essential that the
decision remains valid and lawful to stop these dangerous and high-harm individuals from using their British passport to enter the UK. That is why Clause 9 is absolutely necessary. On my noble friend Lady Mobarik’s point of “Just lock them up”, they will get out eventually and therefore potentially do this country harm.
Amendment 22, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, seeks to repeal the power to deprive a person of citizenship on conducive grounds, but presumably not for fraud, as the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, said; that is, use it for fraud but not for terrorists. I find that absolutely baffling. It would completely remove the Home Secretary’s ability to make a deprivation decision in relation to those high-harm individuals and so leave them free to travel in and out of the UK at will. As I have said before, it is the Government’s duty to keep the public safe and we make absolutely no apology for seeking to do so.
The noble Baroness also made the point about making a deprived citizen another country’s problem. They are not necessarily another country’s problem if they are deprived of their citizenship. The noble Baroness, along with my noble friend Lady Mobarik, also talked about just using the criminal justice system. But because the burden of proof for the criminal justice system is higher than that for immigration and nationality decisions, we might not be able to use intelligence for a prosecution as it would prejudice national security.
What the Government do accept is that Clause 9 as currently drafted does not make the case sufficiently clear for not giving notice of deprivation and I am most grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Anderson, for his Amendment 16, which does exactly that. It is not, as the noble Lord, Lord Paddick, says, a compromise; it provides for safeguards and oversight, and that can only be a good thing.
We also accept the concerns expressed by my noble friend Lord Hodgson that Clause 9 could be misused. He believes that the process of judicial oversight suggested by Amendments 19 and 14 would protect the provisions of Clause 9 from such misuse.
I turn to the right of redress. Much has been made in the media about Clause 9 removing a person’s appeal rights because they will not know that the Home Office has made a decision to deprive them of British citizenship. The Government have repeatedly been clear that the statutory right of appeal is not changed by Clause 9, but I understand that this is far too important to leave to chance. Amendment 17 therefore obliges the Secretary of State to give a person the notice of deprivation when they make contact with the Home Office, while Amendment 18 confirms that a person retains the statutory right of appeal against a decision to deprive them of British citizenship, even if they do not become aware of it until some time after the decision has been made. These seem very sensible safeguards.
The noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, and my noble friend Lady Warsi talked about deprivation creating a two-tier society. Deprivation on conducive grounds is used extremely sparingly—in 19 cases per year on average—against those who pose a serious threat to the UK. It is right that the conducive power is limited so that it can be applied only to those who
are dual citizens or where there are reasonable grounds for believing that a person can become a national of another country. Parliament chose to enact that power on that basis to avoid the prospect of leaving individuals stateless, which would be contrary to the UK’s commitments under the 1961 statelessness convention.
My noble friend Lady Mobarik asked how somebody can challenge their deprivation if they do not know about it. We will always try to serve a deprivation notice at the point of decision, including information about the person’s statutory appeal rights. Where this is not possible and the person later makes contact with the Home Office, they will be issued with the decision notice and an explanation of their appeal rights so that they can seek to exercise their statutory right to appeal the decision.
The final points I will make, although I have made them throughout my speech, are in reply to the noble Lord, Lord Anderson, who asked me to confirm two things. The first was whether anyone subject to a notice of deprivation could contact the Home Office to find out. The answer is yes. The second was that the Home Office will not suggest that people are out of time for an appeal. Again, the answer is yes.
In closing, I remind the House that depriving someone of their British citizenship is extremely serious. It is used sparingly and only against those whose conduct involves very high harm, those who pose a threat to the security of the UK or those who obtained their citizenship by fraudulent means. Preserving this power is vital to protect the integrity of the UK immigration system and the security of the UK from those who wish to do us harm.
I hope that the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, will not press Amendment 22, and that the noble Baroness, Lady D’Souza, will not press Amendment 20, but the Government are content to accept the amendments from the noble Lord, Lord Anderson.