Nationality and Borders Bill — New Clause 8 — Children Registering as British Citizens: Fees — 7 Dec 2021 at 16:30

The majority of MPs voted not to cap fees for applications for children to be registered as a British citizen at the cost of processing the application and not to make applications for those in, or who have been in, care, free of charge until the individual is either 21, or 25 in full time education.

MPs were considering the Nationality and Borders Bill.[1][2][3]

The proposed new clause rejected in this vote was titled: Children registering as British citizens: fees and stated:

  • (1) Within two months of this Act being passed, the Secretary of State must amend the Immigration and Nationality (Fees) Regulations 2018.
  • (2) The amendments referred to in subsection (1) must include—
  • (a) provision to ensure that the fees charged for applications for registration as a British citizen under the British Nationality Act 1981 or the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1997, where the person in respect of whom the application is made is a child at the time the application is made, do not exceed the cost to the Home Office of processing the application;
  • (b) provision to ensure that no fees are charged for applications for registration as a British Citizen under the British Nationality Act 1981 or the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1997 where the person in respect of whom the application is made—
  • (i) is a child being looked after by a local authority at the time the application is made; or
  • (ii) was looked after by a local authority when they were a child, and at the time the application is made is either—
  • (A) under the age of 21; or
  • (B) under the age of 25 and in full-time education.
  • (3) Within six months of this Act being passed, the Secretary of State must lay before Parliament a report setting out the effect of such fees on the human rights of the children applying for registration as British citizens under the British Nationality Act 1981 and the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1997.’

The rejected new clause was accompanied by the following explanatory statement from its proposer:

  • In respect of children registering as British citizens, this new clause would prevent the Home Office from charging a fee which exceeds the cost of processing the application. It would also abolish such fees altogether for looked-after children until they reach the age of 21 (or 25 if in full-time education), and would require the Government to produce a report setting out the effect of such fees on children’s human rights.

The motion rejected in this vote was:

  • That the clause be added to the Bill.

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Debate in Parliament |

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Party Summary

Votes by party, red entries are votes against the majority for that party.

What is Tell? '+1 tell' means that in addition one member of that party was a teller for that division lobby.

What are Boths? An MP can vote both aye and no in the same division. The boths page explains this.

What is Turnout? This is measured against the total membership of the party at the time of the vote.

PartyMajority (No)Minority (Aye)BothTurnout
Alba0 20100.0%
Alliance0 10100.0%
Con322 (+2 tell) 0089.5%
DUP0 7087.5%
Green0 10100.0%
Independent1 40100.0%
Lab0 170 (+2 tell)086.4%
LDem0 7058.3%
PC0 30100.0%
SDLP0 20100.0%
SNP0 39086.7%
Total:323 236088.0%

Rebel Voters - sorted by party

MPs for which their vote in this division differed from the majority vote of their party. You can see all votes in this division, or every eligible MP who could have voted in this division

Sort by: Name | Constituency | Party | Vote

NameConstituencyPartyVote
no rebellions

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