The resentment over the Nationality and Borders Bill introduced in the British parliament is growing across the country with many sections of people campaigning against it. The bill seeks to overhaul the asylum system, introduced for the first time, by having separate systems for asylum-seekers depending on their means of entry to Britain. Under this, the British home secretary would be able to deprive British people of citizenship without telling them.
The Nationality and Borders Bill was first proposed in July and updated in November. Clause 9 of the bill gives powers to the government for not giving any prior notice of a decision depriving a person of citizenship if authorities do not have the subject’s contact details or if it is not “reasonably practical” to do so.
The Bill, however, was returned to the Commons for its third reading. The bill will progress to the House of Lords by next year. While many have lashed out at the bill. The immigration lawyers maintain that the bill goes against principles of international and domestic laws. Petitions have been filed for the removal of Clause 9 from the Nationality and Borders bill. According to one such petition, the removal of the clause is essential as “individuals could be stripped of their British citizenship without warning.”
Thousands of people have signed it calling it “unacceptable, and inconsistent with international human rights obligations”. Kashif Iqbal, a British-Pakistani from Glasgow, who set up a petition to prevent the UK government from revoking the citizenship of ethnic minorities, has asked for the clause to be debated and not be made a law.
“This is especially problematic to British Asian Muslims against whom this law has been used against and who now will live in fear as migrants in the UK despite being born here and living here all their lives”, he stated in the petition.
He further stated, “under the guise of National Security the government can deem you a threat and revoke your citizenship without your knowledge. The changes are draconian and offer an individual little to no chance to appeal”.
Member of Parliament for Haltemprice and Howden, David Davis dubbed it “uncivilised” and “legally disputable”.
Davis said: “Not only are these excessively broad new powers unnecessary in tackling terrorism but also counter-productive.”
He has also put forward an amendment so that the home secretary may not deprive someone of their citizenship without notification.
As of now, citizenship can be removed only if they pose a threat to the nation through terrorism or war crimes, or if their process of obtaining citizenship was found to be fraudulent in nature.
Since 2006, the UK has had the power to strip the British Citizenship of dual nationals. This was introduced after the London bombings on July 7, 2005, that killed 52 people and injured many more. Almost six million people from ethnic minority backgrounds could be affected by the proposed clause, said a report by The New Statesman. Activists have expressed fear that Clause 9 could be used to target certain communities such as British Muslims.
