By House of Lords shuts down changes to immigration law
The House of Lords have shut down changes to the government’s immigration law.
According to the BBC, the Nationality and Borders Bill would have allowed UK authorities to revoke a person’s British citizenship without warning.
It is understood that crossbench peer, Baroness D’Souza submitted an amendment after labelling the changes “unjust” which had been passed after receiving a majority of 44 votes.
The bill will now have to go back to the House of Commons until both sides can agree, otherwise it cannot pass into law.
Ministers will have to make additional compromises or hope those who oppose the changes to the bill give up before the parliamentary session concludes, to ensure the proposal will pass into law before time runs out.
For more than a century, the government has been able to strip people of their UK citizenship if they pose a threat to national security.
Additionally, an individual’s UK citizenship can be stripped if it is deemed to be within the public’s interest, which would see the home secretary make the final decision.
For example, British-born Shamima Begum, who joined the Islamic State after travelling to Syria had her citizenship revoked in 2019 on “security grounds”
The new government proposal would go one step further by granting permission to remove a person’s citizenship without warning.
However, minority groups have stressed that they would become “second-class citizens” if the bill was passed into law.
The British government would only strip people of their citizenship if they have a second nationality that they could claim, the BBC have said.
Speaking at the Lords debate, the former Lord Speaker, Baroness D’Souza said it was “legal fiction” to deprive someone of their citizenship without notice.
She elaborated that there needs to be measures to safeguard those affected and those “who continue to be at risk from previous unlawful actions”
Home Secretary Priti Patel urged the proposal to be passed, suggesting changes to the bill are needed to protect the UK from security risks.
She promised the power to revoke a person’s citizenship would be used only in “exceptional circumstances”
The BBC has reported peers at the debate approved Lady D’Souza’s bill amendment by 209 votes to 165.
MPs will now have to debate the bill again when they return from their Easter break.
