Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent the statelessness of the 150 British nationals who have had their citizenship removed since 2010.

Section 40(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981 (BNA) allows the Secretary of State to deprive any person of British citizenship, should they deem it conducive to the public good to do so.

In every decision taken under section 40(2), the Secretary of State was satisfied that the individual was a dual national at the point of deprivation and so would not be not left stateless by the decision. This is in accordance with UK’s commitments under the 1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

Where a person has acted in a manner which is seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the UK, section 40(4A) of the BNA provides that deprivation can proceed even where it would make a person stateless. To date this power has not been used.

Separate provisions exist where individuals have employed fraud or false representations, these decisions are made under s40(3) of the British Nationality Act 1981.