Mr Michael Trend: You have been tolerant and patient with us this morning, Mr. Butterfill, as has the Minister. The new clause is at the heart of what I tried to say on Second Reading. All of a sudden, we have opened the window and many people have suddenly become walking encyclopaedias on the British overseas territories. That will last only for a short time before the window slams shut again and we lose...
Mr Michael Trend: I do not wish to detain the Committee on the matter at this stage, but will the Minister reconsider before the Bill is considered on Report whether an annual report could be made to Parliament?
Mr Michael Trend: I have one question but I also pay tribute to the hon. Member for Islington, North and the Father of the House, the hon. Member for Linlithgow who have fought tirelessly on behalf of this population for some years. In connection with the loophole, are the Government now confident that they have complied with the High Court judgment last year?
Mr Michael Trend: I beg to move amendment No. 3, in page 2, line 24, leave out subsection (3). The amendment would remove the linkage in clause 3 between British citizenship and the British Nationality Act 1981. I understand that the amendment would cause havoc for the Bill and I do not want to do that, but I want the Minister to say more on one point. The 1981 Act insists that an overseas citizen must fulfil...
Mr Michael Trend: I am sure the Minister understands the intention of the amendment. I had hoped to give notice of the issues I wanted to raise. I am interested in what the Minister said and I am disappointed that he could not enter into a discussion on a matter about which I spoke earlier, which was not ruled out of order. If he has further thoughts on the predicament of people who live on the islands and...
Mr Michael Trend: With a sense of disappointment, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Question proposed, that the clause stand part of the Bill.
Mr Michael Trend: That is an extremely interesting answer. May we return to the position of children born of uncertain parentage in the bases? The Minister said that such children would be entitled to British overseas territories citizenship, which, as I understand it, is the first stage in being granted British citizenship. However, in the case of the sovereign bases in Cyprus, I do not believe that there is...
Mr Michael Trend: So it is theoretically possible for a child who was discovered in the sovereign bases to acquire British overseas territories citizenship but not Cypriot citizenship and to have to retain that for the rest of their lives without becoming any other sort of citizen.
Mr Michael Trend: I am grateful to the Minister and intrigued and intrigued by his replies. I would be grateful if at some stage his office could fill me in a little further. I am particularly interested in how law operates on the sovereign bases and whether they operate under the law of Britain, the law of Cyprus or military law, as this is part of the legislative arrangements made for them. I accept that we...
Mr Michael Trend: I beg to move amendment No. 2, in page 2, line 21, leave out subsection (2).
Mr Michael Trend: I welcome the Bill. It has the support of the Conservative party and puts right a past injustice. I would like to make a small observation about the procedure of the Bill, which I also hope to cover under new clause 6. The Bill offers a rare opportunity to discuss British overseas territories. One can write to the Minister, but it is a complex matter in which some of us have developed an...
Mr Michael Trend: Of course. I mentioned it now only because people in the sovereign bases in Cyprus have a unique national status.
Mr Michael Trend: Of course I understand, though it is the acid test for this amendment, too. I do not wish to detain the Committee any longer. Will the Minister tell us more about the arrangements in the treaty and explain what provision can be made for the extraordinary circumstances that I mentioned?
Mr Michael Trend: I thank my hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk (Mr. Spring) for kindly inviting me to wind up the debate. He is a well-known titan of the Dispatch Box, but I am grateful for the opportunity, and I shall enjoy it. I have a sense of deja vu, as I used to wind up debates on Europe a few years ago when I was my party's spokesman on the subject. We have heard a number of thoughtful speeches...
Mr Michael Trend: We have different opinions on what sovereignty and other such difficult conceptual words mean. If the Government of Gibraltar are being invited to discuss fundamental principles of sovereignty there is no doubt that they do not wish to do so. There are ways in which that could be discussed, and the First Minister of Gibraltar has made that clear. However, if the empty chair is for someone...
Mr Michael Trend: Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr Michael Trend: Perhaps the Minister might care to comment on the fact that had the Government not lost control of the business last night and today, the start of this debate would not have coincided with the meeting of the 1922 Committee. That is why Conservative Members are not here.
Mr Michael Trend: I know that a vast number of questions have been raised. I believe that before the Committee stage in the other place, and indeed before amendments had been tabled, the Minister met interested parties and officials, so that matters that were of no consequence or were susceptible of easy answers could be got out of the way. Will he bear that in mind?
Mr Michael Trend: As I suggested earlier, perhaps when consultative councils are in London, a Select Committee may be able to interview their members on a regular basis. Also, we may be able to investigate whether people could come here from overseas at public expense—as they will be British citizens—to give evidence to a Select Committee. Does the hon. Gentleman have any views on that?
Mr Michael Trend: I welcome the Bill, which all hon. Members agree should have been introduced years ago. I think that it is fair for me to say that the Bill has been a long time coming from the current Government because one was never introduced by the Government whom I supported. I very much regretted the omission at the time. The Bill gives British citizenship to the inhabitants of the remaining overseas...
