Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 16 November (HL11239 and HL11240), why Irish citizens born before 1983 with English mothers are treated differently to those with English fathers; and whether they intend to remove this difference.

British women were unable to pass on their citizenship to children born outside of the UK until 1983.

The change was not made retrospective to avoid issues that could arise around dual nationality. A registration provision has been in place since 2003 to allow children of British mothers born before 1983 to register as a British citizen.