LONDON, England – National security will be strengthened under a new law to prevent British citizenship being reinstated to individuals considered a risk following a successful initial appeal.
The Deprivation of Citizenship Orders (Effect during Appeal) Bill will ensure that citizenship is not automatically reinstated after a successful appeal until all further appeals are exhausted—protecting the public from potential threats.
The bill addresses a gap in the law identified by the Supreme Court, where it confirmed people automatically regain their British citizenship if their initial appeal is successful – even before further appeals have been determined.
This could mean individuals who the government still considers a risk to the UK’s national security can either be released from immigration detention or return to the UK whilst further appeals are still possible or are ongoing.
This change will also prevent a person from having British citizenship reinstated and then renouncing any other nationalities. This would mean any future decision to deprive their citizenship following a successful further appeal, could not be made as it would unlawfully render them stateless, meaning they could also not be deported from the UK or prevented from returning if they were already overseas.
Security minister Dan Jarvis, said:
“Protecting our national security and keeping the British public safe is the first duty of this government and the foundation of our Plan for Change. The power to deprive someone of their British citizenship is an essential tool, and helps protect us from some of the most dangerous people.
“We must close this gap in the law and prevent British citizenship being reinstated to individuals until all appeals have been determined. This is the right thing to do if we believe someone is a threat to our national security, and it will make Britain safer.”
Deprivation decisions on ‘conducive to the public good’ grounds are taken only in the most serious cases by the Home Secretary, where it is in the public interest to do so because of the individual’s conduct or the threat they pose to the UK.
The change in the law follows the similar approach taken in asylum and human rights appeals cases, where asylum is not granted to a person appealing a rejection until all further appeals, up to the Court of Appeal, have been determined.
This narrowly focussed bill, consisting of two clauses, makes no change to a person’s existing right to appeal any decision to remove their British citizenship, and doesn’t widen the reasons for which a person could be deprived of their citizenship.
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