Dear Editor,
While George Monbiot gave a litany of the repressive measures which the government is seeking to sneak into the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill in his timely warning entitled "To ban protest in Britain is a tyrant's gambit" (Guardian 01.12.21), it is also worth remembering the parallel Nationality and Borders Bill. Here the Home Secretary is seeking to sneak in administrative measures to strip naturalized UK citizens of their citizenship on "reasonable grounds" and without notice, in the interests of national security or UK diplomatic relations.
Consequently, the Home Office would be able to exert undue pressure and even threaten with eventual deportation any naturalized UK citizen who makes awkward statements or would otherwise embarrass the interests of Britain's more repressive allies. It would make the life of UK citizens of Middle East origin particularly vulnerable. It would also be a signal to former EU citizens and their children, struggling to legitimize their hard won "settled status" in this country by applying for UK citizenship, that they will only eventually possess a lower form of UK citizenship, which could be revoked without warning or appeal if the Home Office thought it would be "conducive to the public good."
Of course, you should be able to trust the Home Office not to abuse such powers. Or pigs could fly,
Yours faithfully
Wiktor Moszczynski
Published in The Guardian 4th December 2021
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