British Nationality
(asked on 23rd July 2018) - View Source
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) dual and (b) UK-only UK nationals have had their UK citizenship revoked in the last 10 years.
Under section 40 of the British Nationality Act 1981, as amended in 2006 and 2014, the Secretary of State is empowered to deprive, by order, any person of any form of British nationality if satisfied that:
- such deprivation is conducive to the public good (section 40(2))
- the individual has acted in a manner seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the UK ( section 4A));
Under Section 40(3) of the British Nationality Act, the Secretary of State may by order deprive a person of a citizenship status which results from his registration or naturalisation if the Secretary of State is satisfied that citizenship was obtained by means of fraud, false representation or concealment of a material fact
When seeking to deprive on the basis that to do so is conducive to the public good, the law requires that this action proceed only if the individual concerned would not be left stateless, unless action is taken under the specific provisions in 4A,. In that case, deprivation will only occur if the person is able, under the laws of another country, to obtain another citizenship. No such requirements exist in cases where the citizenship was obtained fraudulently.
Since November 2015 the Government has regularly published statistics relating to deprivation of citizenship under section 40 subsection (4A) of the British Nationality Act 1981 and section 40 subsection (2):
Data relating to the deprivation of citizenship under section 40 subsection (3) is not yet currently published. As part of ongoing Home Office transparency arrangements it is anticipated this additional data will be published in November 2018.