Assembly condemns the Government’s Nationality and Borders Bill

The Nationality and Borders Bill would provide for widespread reform of the immigration and asylum system.

The London Assembly has called the Bill a potentially racist, divisive piece of legislation which echoes the ongoing injustices inflicted on the Windrush generation.

Today, the Assembly has called on both the Chair of the Assembly and the Mayor to write to the Home Secretary to express condemnation of the Bill on behalf of Londoners.

Dr Onkar Sahota AM, who proposed the motion, said:

“What makes London great is its openness and its diversity, but this Bill could see two in five people from ethnic minority backgrounds stripped of their citizenship with no warning.

“This proposed two-tier system is deeply concerning and unacceptable and could make a huge swathe of Londoners second-class citizens in their country.

“The Government must learn the damning lessons of the Windrush Scandal and scrap this dangerous and divisive Bill.”

The full text of the motion is:

This Assembly condemns the Government’s Nationality and Borders Bill and believes it is a potentially racist, divisive piece of legislation which echoes the ongoing injustices inflicted on the Windrush generation.

This Assembly wishes to highlight clause nine of the Bill, “Notice of decision to deprive a person of citizenship”, which makes it legal to strip the citizenship of millions of British citizens without informing individuals. This clause as presently framed, gives the Secretary of State unconstitutional powers to deprive any British citizen of their citizenship, without warning, where they are deemed to have claim to citizenship of another country and where it is suggested to be for the ‘public good’.

The term ‘public good’ is fundamentally debatable and leaves little protection for future generations. This will also have a disproportionate impact on non-white British citizens.

This Assembly notes that peers are working cross-party to amend this Bill.

This Assembly recognises that, if this bill were to become law unamended, two in five people from ethnic minority backgrounds would become eligible to be deprived of their citizenship without warning and 6 million people across the UK, a proportion of whom will be Londoners, would be at risk of having their British nationality revoked.

This Assembly believes that the law undermines equal citizenship for all and places Britons of ethnic minorities as second-class citizens.

This Assembly believes that the law is also an attack on the rights of refugees who potentially face a four-year prison term for not entering the UK directly from a country of persecution.

Therefore, this Assembly calls on both the Chair of the Assembly and the Mayor of London to each write separately to the Home Secretary to express our condemnation of this Bill on behalf of Londoners.