Business of the House

Bobby Dean Excerpts

Thursday 15th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Bobby Dean (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD)]

I join the Leader of the House in this tribute to Sir David Amess. It is clear how well loved he was across the House, and our thoughts are with his family.

The Leader of the House mentioned the party conference season. The Liberal Democrats warmly welcome the Prime Minister moving towards our positions on Europe, social care and electoral reform at conference. We urge him to go further and faster on all three fronts. [Interruption.] Not appreciated by those on the Conservative Benches, but we certainly appreciate progress on Europe, social care and electoral reform.

There is an emerging scandal that relates to the treatment of Hongkongers entitled to British national overseas status. The UK has a historic commitment to those people, with the promise of democracy being maintained in Hong Kong or a pathway to UK citizenship, which many of them have taken up. However, we have received reports that many BNO applications are now being refused on the basis of past convictions in Hong Kong. UK rules state that if the conviction is an offence in the UK and the sentence is for longer than 12 months, that should result in an automatic refusal. Some Hongkongers were convicted for longer than 12 months for the offence of rioting, which is an offence in the UK but, of course, they were not really rioting; they were engaging in peaceful democratic protest.

We have raised these concerns directly with the Home Office, which says that discretion can be applied, but the guidance we have seen says otherwise. The fact is that people are now being rejected on this basis. To add insult to injury, the rejection letters say that these decisions have been made by a competent foreign court. I hope the Leader of House will agree that this would be a betrayal of the UK’s historic commitment to those people, so can he organise for Ministers to issue clear guidance about the specific discretion that is required in these cases?

[Sir Alan Campbell]

I am sure the House will not have missed the hon. Gentleman’s opening comments when he talked about his party’s “positions” on Europe—it is not unusual for the Lib Dems to have many positions on many things. I am sure he enjoyed his conference, not least because he probably got more sleep than he might have done with a young child at home, but there we are. The difference between our conference and his is that the leader of our party came out strengthened from our conference; I am not sure the Lib Dems can say the same.

On the serious matter that the hon. Gentleman raises, we have granted over 230,000 visas under the British national overseas visa route, and we are honouring our commitment to support Hongkongers facing political pressure. We remain committed to supporting Hong Kong residents and welcoming eligible applications under the scheme. Every application involving a prior conviction is assessed individually on its merits. We are ensuring that actions that are not considered criminal offences under UK law do not bar applicants from safety, but I give him my word that I will go back to the Home Office, and if that needs to be clarified, I will draw that to its attention