Gavin Robinson
MP for Belfast East · Democratic Unionist Party · United Kingdom
“I am very grateful to the hon. Lady for allowing me to intervene. She mentions that the Government have a responsibility to ensure this legislation is lawful and workable, yet she is the Bill’s sponsor—that responsibility rests on her, too.”
“That is an answer to a question, but it is not really the answer to my question. I want to hear from our Secretary of State a full-throated recognition that there is a deficit, that Sir Declan needs access to the unredacted material, and that the Secretary of State will secure agreement from the Irish Government for such a change.”
“Is the Secretary of State further concerned that the chief operating officer of the Northern Ireland Office said that day that she would take that point back—to whom we do not know, because she is the chief operating officer—but today has written to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee to confirm that nothing in the Secretary of State’s…”
“The Secretary of State will know that, given the legacy of our past, two Governments are involved. Was he concerned, as we were, that Sir Declan Morgan shared with the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee two weeks ago his concern that he will not have access to unredacted intelligence material from the Irish Government?”
“I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Upper Bann (Carla Lockhart) on securing this debate. Does the Minister understand that when he speaks of co-operation between the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach, it rings hollow when immigration officials in Dublin airport indicate where the bus to Belfast is?”
“Does the Minister understand that any agreement around data sharing rings hollow when the Home Office will not tell us how many people enter the UK from the Republic of Ireland, how many apply in Drumkeen House in Belfast or how many are removed not just from Northern Ireland, but the United Kingdom as a whole, and even more so when the H…”
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“(Urgent Question) : To ask the Secretary of State for Home Department if he will make a statement on the High Court judgment in Belfast of 13 May 2024 disapplying the Illegal Migration Act 2023 in Northern Ireland.”
“What steps are the Government taking to get a British Isles solution to immigration, outside the control of the EU and outside, as it is, the Schengen area? Finally, what steps will the Minister and his Government take to assert Parliament’s sovereign will to protect the borders of the United Kingdom?”
“I tabled an amendment to new clause 3, along with my colleagues, giving the Government the opportunity to put the issue to bed, in order to maintain the integrity of this country’s sovereign immigration policy and the integrity and protection of our borders, but they chose not to do so. I am grateful that the Minister has indicated his willingness to appeal, but when they had the opportunity to put the issue beyond doubt, why did they not do that? Do they recognise that in not doing so they have significantly impaired the uniformity of the UK’s immigration policy? In 1922, long before the EU was envisaged, and long before the UK joined and then departed, the islands of Great Britain and Ireland had an integrity in immigration policy: the common travel area applied.”
“The only difference between the encroachment on the application of our sovereign immigration policy in Northern Ireland, as of the rest of the United Kingdom, by the Illegal Migration Act is that a case was advanced on the basis of that Act, yet a case on the Safety of Rwanda Act has not yet been considered. However, the Government will know that the rationale outlined yesterday by the High Court for the Illegal Migration Act will similarly apply to the Safety of Rwanda Act as well. It need not be so. Although the Government chose to dismiss the concerns we outlined in this House, and that our colleagues outlined in the other place, they had an opportunity to put this issue beyond doubt.”
“I am grateful for that response, and I thank the Minister of State in the Northern Ireland Office and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland for being present today. But we need not be here, as the issues elucidated yesterday by the High Court in Belfast were fairly and thoroughly explored in this House, and in the other place, during the passage of both the Illegal Migration Act and the Safety of Rwanda Act. When my colleagues and I raised these concerns here in Parliament, we were told by the Government that we were wrong, yet the High Court in Belfast said yesterday that we were right.”
“I agree with the hon. Member for North Down (Stephen Farry) and thank the Minister for reaching this point. There has been considerable effort and collaboration across the House and across parties. The hon. Gentleman mentioned most particularly the First Minister, the Deputy First Minister, the Justice Minister for Northern Ireland and, indeed, all Northern Ireland MPs, who are all agreeable to the aspiration of the instruction to the Committee. It is right that Northern Ireland be included in a UK-wide system, and the outcome should benefit our constituents who have been most deeply affected by the Horizon scandal. Question put and agreed to.”
“I just want to put on record, in Committee, the Democratic Unionist party’s sincere and personal appreciation of the Minister for how he has engaged with us, the pragmatic way he has approached these issues, and the can-do attitude he has extended to Northern Ireland. We have met on a number of occasions. He has received the thorough representations of my right hon. Friend the Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson) and colleagues across the House, not least Ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive. We are indebted to him. We recognise that this is a huge step forward for the sub-postmasters in Northern Ireland who felt there would not be light at the end of the tunnel. He has extended the Bill very purposefully for all those affected in Northern Ireland, and we thank him for it.”
“We are grateful not just for his interest in us, but for his commitment to the issue over many years and the thoughtful way in which he has engaged in it. It serves to prove the impact that Back Benchers can have in the parliamentary process that there is no frailty to the pursuit that we have. Though we may not have sufficiency of numbers to provide the opposition in and of ourselves, we have been able through effective relationships to ensure positive progress in the Bill. However, that can work only if there is reciprocation. For that, throughout the course of the last weeks and months, and longer relationships on other issues, we are grateful.”
“But my colleagues and I genuinely appreciate the way in which he has engaged with us. Tribute was paid to the Northern Ireland Executive and the way in which they have engaged in this issue, but as the party leader it would be remiss of me not to put on record my appreciation for the work of my right hon. Friend the Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson), who took an interest in the issue long before the restoration of the Northern Ireland Executive. He has recognised the deep injustice that has been at the heart of the Horizon scandal and doggedly pursued resolution and justice for those affected in Northern Ireland. Our friend, the right hon. Member for North Durham (Mr Jones), has always been a champion for Northern Ireland’s inclusion in the legislation.”
“Like others who have spoken, I indicate the Democratic Unionist party’s full support for the Bill at Third Reading. The Secretary of State was kind enough to thank the Minister. As she was not present to hear all our tributes to him throughout the course of the evening, I want to repeat them for her benefit. The Minister has thoughtfully and doggedly worked through the issues on the inclusion of Northern Ireland. We are incredibly grateful to him. He used to sidle up to me weekly and suggest something else that I needed to do to allow him to advance the case for inclusion, and every time I satisfied what he had asked of me, he presented another challenge, and then another. He requested that I speak with people who are really uncontactable for politicians because they are too impartial for such work.”
“Member for Belfast South (Claire Hanna), my constituency neighbour, was pleased to be a part of the Bill Committee. She has been totally supportive, as has the hon. Member for North Down (Stephen Farry) from the Alliance party. If I have the leave of the House, I will probably have a few more thanks to offer, but having an opportunity in this way to progress, most substantively, a 40-year campaign is so wonderfully appreciated. I hope many across our country will benefit from it.”
“I suspect that he is sorry too, but he has a most able substitute today, the Minister for Security, who has thoughtfully engaged on these issues around Northern Ireland, Ireland and the United Kingdom for many years—someone for whom we have huge regard. So if ever there was somebody to be here on behalf of the Legal Migration Minister, I am delighted it is the Security Minister and he is able to respond on behalf of the Government. This is a great and wonderful opportunity for the people of our islands to unify, to strengthen bonds, and to get official and national recognition of the ties that bind us together; something that does not need to have discord and has not had discord. I mentioned Labour earlier. I should have mentioned that the hon.”
“Nothing about this Bill is coercive, but it opens the door to a wonderful opportunity for us, as a nation, to recognise our nearest neighbours and bring them closer still. People have been campaigning for this for 40 years, and there have been many false dawns in Parliament. In 1998, the Belfast agreement missed the opportunity to redress the balance when Irish nationality was offered to those in Northern Ireland who were born or naturalised as UK citizens. We had the opportunity to afford the same courtesy to those on the other side of the border. I am delighted with the way the Home Office has engaged on this issue. The Minister for Legal Migration and the Border has been a joy to engage with over the past couple of months. I am sorry that he is not here today to see the final stage.”
“The Government are well aware of my position that there should be no need for anything over and above the cost of a passport but, in fairness to them, I recognise that it is not part of this Bill. A fees order would have to be made separately and subsequently, and the Government have been very proactive on this issue and have been very open to a discussion that would consider something far short of what is required today. I am grateful for their engagement with me in that regard. No citizenship test or “Life in the UK” test; a considerably reduced fee; and an opportunity for us, as a nation, to embrace our nearest neighbours—individuals who are part of our families and our lives, but for whom the process required of them is just a step too far.”
“The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee issued a report in July 2021—HC 158—that considered all of these issues, took evidence from Lord Hay and concluded that a citizenship test for individuals who, like him, find themselves in this situation would be not only “irrelevant” but “offensive.” I am glad that the Government have taken heed of that approach. There has been continual discussion of fees during the passage of my private Member’s Bill. There is absolutely no reason why somebody who was born in these islands and who already benefits from all the entitlements from which you and I benefit, Mr Deputy Speaker, should have to pay £1,580 to benefit from citizenship of a country to which they have contributed all their life.”
“I am grateful that Labour has been in lockstep with us on every opportunity that I have had to raise the issue. Andrew MacKinlay, a great friend of Northern Ireland and the former Labour Member for Thurrock, addressed this point in 2009: “we have an opportunity, which the House will probably not have again for some years, to right a wrong, provide parity of treatment for people who are Irish…and allow them to identify with their Britishness.” —[ Official Report , 14 July 2009; Vol. 496, c. 220.] He was right. The House was unable to land the opportunity in 2009, but 15 years later we can seize this wonderful opportunity.”
“In fairness, the Conservative and Unionist Government further opened the door and said that this does not need to be constrained to Northern Ireland, and that it should apply across the United Kingdom. I have never been resistant to that, but I recognised the constraints on private Members’ Bills, so I am delighted that we were able to expand the extent of the Bill in Committee so that it applies across the United Kingdom to over a quarter of a million people, including the London Irish and many interspersed throughout our communities and constituencies. It is a great boon. Throughout the parliamentary processes on this aspiration, we have benefited from significant cross-party support, not just from the Conservative party but from the Labour party.”
“My hon. Friend the Member for East Londonderry (Mr Campbell) was elected to this place in 2001 and has been campaigning on this issue since 2001. Lord Hay, having joined the House of Lords in 2014, has been campaigning on it since 2014. Now we have the opportunity to put that final piece in the jigsaw. As I have indicated, 31,000 eligible people in Northern Ireland and 260,000 eligible people across the United Kingdom could benefit. When I started the private Member’s Bill process, my focus was on assisting those in Northern Ireland, predominantly from the three counties of Ulster that are no longer in the United Kingdom, who have moved across the border.”
“Now, I will not be dragged into questioning the ability of Members from far-flung parts of our community in Northern Ireland to speak English—the Londonderry accent is not the same as the Belfast accent, but it is English none the less. Lord Hay provides a really good, tangible example of why this situation is a nonsense. We know that anybody born within our islands benefits from the common travel area. We know that anybody who holds Irish citizenship is free to work, study and vote anywhere in the United Kingdom, and they can benefit from education and healthcare in the United Kingdom. But the final piece is citizenship. They are not the same as somebody from another country in a far-flung place, simply because of our intertwined relationships and our history. So from 1985 the parliamentary efforts to redress this issue have continued.”
“He joined the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1988 and became its Speaker in 2007. He stepped down as Speaker in 2014 and became a legislator in this place. He is a peer of our realm, but he does not have British citizenship. The idea that somebody like that—someone who has lived almost their entire life in our country, contributed to it through public service, worked and paid taxes here, and positively changed lives in our country—should have to apply for naturalisation, ignoring the history of the intertwined relationships between our two islands, should have to satisfy a “Life in the UK” test and prove that he can speak English, when he is sitting in our Parliament, legislating for our country, really does highlight the nonsense.”
“We often talk about the clash between identity and citizenship on these islands, but the one piece of the puzzle that has been absent since the Good Friday agreement, when individuals with an Irish identity living in Northern Ireland were free to attain Irish citizenship, is that the same has not been true for those born in the Irish Republic who live, work and enjoy being in the United Kingdom. That is the essence of this Bill. In order to bring that alive, let us consider my colleague in the other place, Lord Hay. He was born in Donegal in 1950, 15 months after the creation of the Irish Republic, but has lived almost his entire life in Londonderry, in Northern Ireland. He has been a public servant in Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom for almost 50 years.”
“That came to an end in 1948 with the British Nationality Act and the creation of the Irish Republic in 1949, and it was from that point that people who were born in the Irish Republic but subsequently moved to the United Kingdom—who spent the remainder of their lives living, building families and working in the United Kingdom, and from my perspective in Northern Ireland—have been unable to enjoy the same privileges that were open to our forefathers.”
“Across the United Kingdom, more than a quarter of a million citizens could take the opportunity to benefit from what I have described throughout the parliamentary process as the final piece in a long constitutional jigsaw. To go into some of the history, just for completeness, for the last 224 years the island of Ireland and the island of Great Britain have been one. They were connected in 1800, commenced in 1801, through the Acts of Union, and the lives of our citizens have been intertwined ever since. In 1921, when the island of Ireland was partitioned, the rights of citizens across the island to attain, hold and cherish their British citizenship pertained. The Irish Free State held dominion status within the British empire and anyone born within the Irish Free State was still entitled to, and many enjoyed, British citizenship.”
“Although there is not an awful lot of awareness of this process, or, indeed much coverage of it, I appreciate that it is there and the role that we play as Back-Bench MPs in making a difference to our country. The British Nationality (Irish Citizens) Bill has been long in duration and in gestation. The Library was able to dig out initial references from 1985, I think, when the issue was first brought before the House of Commons. Here we are today, and I hope—if the House consents to Third Reading and we can get on to the Bill’s subsequent stages in the other place—we will have an opportunity to make a difference for the 31,000 citizens within Northern Ireland who would benefit from this.”
“I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time. Just yesterday, I was asked by a constituent what relevance or role a Back-Bench MP has. God love that woman, Mr Deputy Speaker, because not only did she get the full precis of my contribution this afternoon, she got all the intricacies of the processes and the procedures and the hoops that we go through to make an impact —but make an impact we have. We cannot overstate the impact of such Bills—not only those that have progressed to Third Reading today, but those that I have had the privilege of hearing about and contributing to over the last number of months—or their importance to the lives of ordinary people in our country.”
“Member for Christchurch wishes to follow my Bill with the Second Reading of his own, so with that, I shall sit down. Question put and agreed to. Bill accordingly read the Third time and passed.”
“The Home Office officials have been incredible in their assistance, expertise, guidance, encouragement and support, so huge thanks go to Mr Darlow and his team. I thank James in my team for keeping me on the straight and narrow. I thank the Comptroller of His Majesty’s Household, the hon. Member for Castle Point (Rebecca Harris). I could not explain to you, Mr Deputy Speaker, the stress associated with organising private Members’ Bills Fridays, which she outlined for me, but you might ask her later on. I thank the hon. Member for Hyndburn (Sara Britcliffe) for her comments, and the hon. Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope), to whom I am grateful for remembering the Westminster Hall debate and our interactions with the Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office, the right hon. Member for Wycombe (Mr Baker). The hon.”
“As I said, Mr Deputy Speaker, this will be just a list of thank yous from me, and I thank you for your expert chairmanship. I thank the Minister for the way in which he has engaged and picked up the baton incredibly well—I appreciate it—and I thank the Minister for Legal Migration and the Border, the hon. Member for Corby (Tom Pursglove), who has been great in his engagement. I thank the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Nottingham North (Alex Norris), for his comments. Anne-Marie Griffiths from the Public Bill Office has been very forgiving, given that I have continually asked questions that she has probably answered on four or five occasions. I appreciate all the assistance from the Public Bill Office.”
“Lady is small in stature but mighty in her passion and her determination, and in the faith that underpins her drive in this regard. My hon. Friend the Member for Strangford, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on international freedom of religion or belief, and I am delighted, on behalf of our party, to give our full-throated support and our prayerful endeavours for the hon. Lady regarding this legislative process, which I trust will have a successful and profitable conclusion. It will be the enshrinement of a role that we all benefit from.”
“I know that the creation of a legislative underpinning for the Prime Minister’s special envoy for freedom of religion or belief was a Conservative party manifesto—a commitment of this Government. I am sorry that we have had to enter the last Session of this Parliament before we have taken the strong opportunity to finally land that legislative commitment. The essence of the hon. Lady is that she has never made this process about herself. It is not about securing a role that she currently holds. It is about sustaining the role for future generations to impact all those who benefit from having a singular advocate in this Parliament to act on our collective behalf and on our country’s behalf to speak up for all those internationally who need that. I have reflected on many occasions that the hon.”
“Regarding the Bill, it is odd in parliamentary terms to walk into a Committee knowing that I support the Bill, that this process will completely change the Bill by removing the two substantive clauses and replacing them with a new clause, and that we will leave with the Bill still having gained unanimous support, because it is the essence of what the hon. Lady is trying to achieve through the Bill that we support. As the Democratic Unionist party’s leader in Parliament now, I wanted to be here to place on record not only our support for the Bill but our personal appreciation of the hon. Lady for the steadfast and committed way in which she has approached the issues that we are discussing over many years.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Graham, and to be here in this Public Bill Committee, given that I was pleased to support the hon. Member for Congleton on Second Reading in one of our Friday debates on private Members’ Bills. Few people know that although some of those Bills come out of the ballot, there is an opportunity immediately after the ballot, and the hon. Lady was prepared to sleep in a tent on the third floor to ensure that she was first through the door to secure this opportunity—and she was. We are grateful to her for doing so.”
“I feel a bit bad because I said that the hon. Lady was prepared to do it. For fear that rumours start spreading, I am glad that she has set the record straight. I am sure Hansard will back me up on what I said. But she would have done it, of that I have no doubt.”
“The Secretary of State mentioned the Government’s commitment to eliminating all routine checks in the UK internal market system, and we look forward to his faithful delivery of that. However, while we have seen the creation of the East-West Council, we have heard little about the construction of InterTrade UK or the establishment of the independent monitoring panel. May I ask the Secretary of State to update the House on those issues?”
“On behalf of my colleagues, may I extend our deepest sympathies to the family of Frank Field? He and I shared four years in the House, and I always found him to be a very warm and engaging colleague—someone who had time for young parliamentarians like me, and who believed very much in this place and our country. May I also thank the Secretary of State and the Minister of State, Department for Business and Trade, the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake), for the inclusion of Northern Ireland in the Horizon scandal Bill? That is incredibly important. As a Unionist, I believe in this country and will work every day to strengthen our place in it. We recognise the “Safeguarding the Union” Command Paper as an important stepping-stone in maintaining and securing our position.”
“The Secretary of State will recognise that one of the issues absent from the Windsor framework and subsequent agreements is the conclusion of an arrangement for veterinary medicines. He will know how important agriculture is to the Northern Ireland economy, and he will also know that Northern Ireland produces 10 times as much food as we need, to the benefit of our nearest neighbours. The establishment of the veterinary medicines working group, with the help of the Minister of State and my hon. Friend the Member for North Antrim (Ian Paisley), has been extremely positive, but there is a cliff edge towards the end of next year. We need a successful conclusion to the issue, and I would be grateful if the Secretary of State could inform the House that that will happen.”
“I beg to move amendment 1, in clause 1, page 1, line 5, leave out “persons born in Ireland” and insert “Irish citizens”. This Amendment changes the section heading of the new section 4AA inserted into the British Nationality Act 1981 by clause 1 to reflect the change made by Amendment 2.”
“In moving amendment 1 and having spoken to the import of the subsequent and consequential amendments, I hope that as a Public Bill Committee we can resolve that, in common with most private Members’ Bills, this Bill—although small in impact and narrow in scope—will make a huge difference for those who are a part of our country and we will be able to get, as I have said, the final piece in this jigsaw.”
“It is not where I started on this journey, but, seeing the door opened so welcomingly and productively by the Home Office Minister and his officials, it is something I can rationalise as a huge step forward. We cannot predict the future, but if this is the culmination of an almost 40-year parliamentary pursuit to close the circle and formally and thoughtfully recognise the ability of Irish citizens living in our communities and as part of our country to attain United Kingdom citizenship, I think it will be a job well done.”
“Amendment 5, again, will change “persons born in Ireland” to “Irish citizens”. All amendments are within the confines of the spirit of the Bill and apply to those who are resident within the United Kingdom and satisfy legally the residency test. The Bill will apply to those who have and proudly hold their Irish heritage, who will be able to attain British citizenship throughout the United Kingdom irrespective of where they live, provided they satisfy the residency requirements. The approach will move the import of the Bill at inception beyond the confines of our 1.9 million people, and the Irish nationals who reside with us in Northern Ireland, to the entirety of the UK—a catchment of 60 million people—and the Irish nationals who live in our communities throughout the United Kingdom. That is a hugely welcome step.”
“The amendments before colleagues this morning were flagged as a potential on Second Reading, but were going through the process of parliamentary procedure. Though the initial drive for this legislation was to recognise those living in Northern Ireland, as I said on Second Reading and will say again today, as a Unionist, I have no principled objection to—in fact, I am delighted with—the Government’s approach that these measures should not be confined solely to Northern Ireland. There should be no restriction or import placed on geographical location. Amendment 1 will replace a reference to “persons born in Ireland” with “Irish citizens”. Similarly, amendment 2 will ensure references to Irish citizens, as opposed to those born in Ireland. Amendments 3 and 4 will replace references to Northern Ireland with the entire United Kingdom.”
“The notion that they should is, to my mind, offensive, contrary to the spirit of reciprocation offered through the Belfast agreement of 1998, blind to our history and ignorant of the legal reality. We enjoy a common travel area between our nations, and Irish citizens moving throughout the United Kingdom are already exempt from immigration formalities. They enjoy a range of related rights to work, vote and study, and access education and healthcare as though they were already British citizens. On Second Reading, I highlighted my appreciation not only for the courteous and pragmatic engagement on this issue of the Home Office Minister and his officials, but for their willingness to engage with me in a way that has brought us to this point today.”
“I mentioned my colleague in the other place, Lord Hay of Ballyore, whose lineage perhaps best illustrates this point. He was born in Donegal in April 1950—some 15 months after the law changed—yet has lived for the overwhelming majority of his life in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. He served on his local council from 1981; he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998, and served as Speaker of that Assembly from 2007 to 2014, when he was elevated to the House of Lords. To this day, a decade later, he remains a peer of this realm and a legislator in our Parliament, yet he is not a British citizen. The question is this: should anyone in that situation—anyone who has served our nation practically, materially and productively—be expected to pay a naturalisation fee of £1,580 and complete a Life in the UK citizenship test?”
“Those who say, “Sure—just apply for naturalisation in the normal way,” fail to recognise or respond to the special relationships that our nations have had. From 1801, our nations were united. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland accorded the same citizenship protections to us all. When partition occurred in 1921, the right of those resident in the Irish Free State to avail of UK citizenship was contained and delivered through their dominion status. It was only when the Irish Republic was established and the British Nationality Act 1948 came into effect in the following year that those entitlements were lost. Since 1949, that means that anyone who was born in the Republic of Ireland but lived and worked in and continued to contribute to the UK has not been able to avail themselves of British citizenship as their forefathers did.”
“Although it was accepted and acknowledged that Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom was constitutionally settled, those with a competing aspiration could avail of Irish identity, and the Government of the Republic of Ireland afforded them the opportunity to obtain Irish citizenship. In Northern Ireland, some hold citizenship singularly, while others happily enjoy dual citizenship of both the UK and the Republic of Ireland. However, what was not settled was reciprocation in the other direction. This Parliament will know the history and relationship of our intertwined relations, and this Bill seeks to provide the final piece of that relational jigsaw. In my view, anyone who is born in the Republic of Ireland but lives in the United Kingdom and satisfies the residency test should be able to avail themselves of British citizenship.”
“For a decade now, he has passionately been an advocate for the changes outlined in the Bill. In doing so, Lord Hay has sought to complement and support the sustained and unparalleled efforts of my hon. Friend the Member for East Londonderry (Mr Campbell). As a Member of this House since 2001, my hon. Friend has consistently and relentlessly—and with what some might say is characteristic fervour—tabled questions, pursued debates, encouraged Ministers and expertly tilled the ground to make it so fertile today. His labour has not been in vain, and over the course of the last number of years he has collected the support of colleagues from right across the political spectrum in the House of Commons. The essence of the Bill is this. Colleagues throughout the House will recognise that the Belfast Agreement sought to address issues of identity.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this morning, Mrs Harris. I thank all hon. and right hon. colleagues for taking the time to attend this Public Bill Committee. I am pleased to move amendment 1. In the course of my remarks I hope to provide context for the Bill, but I shall not regurgitate the commentary from Second Reading; it would not be in order to do so. However, I hope that it contextualises the nature of the amendments under consideration. This Bill has a long, long past. The opportunity has arisen—and it is one that I have seized—to resolve an issue that has been long in gestation and hopefully is soon to be delivered. My colleague in the other place, Lord Hay of Ballyore, commented last year that this conundrum was first raised in this House in 1985, which was just before my first birthday.”
“Amendment made: 7, in the title, line 1, leave out from “provision” to end of line 2 and insert “for Irish citizens who have been resident in the United Kingdom for five years to be entitled to British citizenship;”.— (Gavin Robinson.) This amendment changes the long title of the bill to reflect the changes made by Amendments 2, 3 and 4. The Committee has the power to consider these amendments, and the consequential changes to the long title, by virtue of the Instruction given to it by the House of Commons on 5 March 2024. Bill, as amended, to be reported.”
“Amendment 4, in clause 1, page 1, line 14, leave out “Northern Ireland” and insert “the United Kingdom”. See explanatory statement to Amendment 3. Amendment 5, in clause 1, page 2, line 13, leave out “persons born in Ireland” and insert “Irish citizens”.— (Gavin Robinson.) This amendment is consequential on Amendment 1. Clause 1, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill. Clause 2 Extent, commencement and short title Amendment made: 6, in clause 2, page 2, line 21, leave out “Citizenship (Northern Ireland)” and insert “Nationality (Irish Citizens)”.— (Gavin Robinson.) This amendment changes the short title of the bill, to reflect the change made by Amendment 2. Clause 2, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.”
“Amendments made: 2, in clause 1, page 1, line 6, leave out from beginning to “is” and insert “An Irish citizen”. This amendment means that Irish citizens who fulfil the requirements in subsection (2) of new section 4AA (changed by Amendments 3 and 4) are entitled to be registered as British citizens under new section 4AA, rather than just persons born in Ireland after 31 December 1948 who fulfil those requirements. Amendment 3, in clause 1, page 1, line 12, leave out “Northern Ireland” and insert “the United Kingdom”. This amendment and Amendment 4 change the residence requirements for the new route to British citizenship in the new section 4AA, so that the requirement is that the person has lived in the United Kingdom for the five years before their application, rather than in Northern Ireland.”