See the Guardian article of 17.11.21:
Acquiring British Citizenship is the final step to someone from overseas feeling they "belong" here and to making people feel welcome and to building a lasting sense of loyalty.
Rigorous background security checks before granting British Citizenship may be a better solution than giving the state a power to surreptitiously deprive someone of Citizenship after the event.
There could be many domino effects from making people feel insecure even when they at last feel they have "arrived," after what is often a very long, arduous and costly journey. Innocuous or national interest based as this may at first sight seem, the very damaging butterfly-effects could potentially be far worse than the mischief this appears to be seeking to address...
Are we abandoning principles of good race relations, fairness, equality, democracy, checks and balances of the power of the State against individual rights and the rule of law by managing things in this way?
"Clause 9 – “Notice of decision to deprive a person of citizenship” – of the bill, which was updated earlier this month, exempts the government from having to give notice if it is not “reasonably practicable” to do so, or in the interests of national security, diplomatic relations or otherwise in the public interest".
Author: Nilmini Roelens
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