Nationality and Borders Bill — New Clause 2 — Acquisition by Registration: Descendants of Those Born on British Indian Ocean Territory — 7 Dec 2021 at 16:30
The majority of MPs voted not to give descendants of those born on British Indian Ocean Territory before 8 November 1965 the right to become a British Overseas Territories citizen and a British citizen, with no application fees.
MPs were considering the Nationality and Borders Bill.[1][2][3]
The proposed new clause rejected in this vote was titled: Acquisition by registration: Descendants of those born on British Indian Ocean Territory and stated:
- (1) The British Nationality Act 1981 is amended as follows.
- (2) After section 17H (as inserted by section 7) insert—
- “17I Acquisition by registration: Descendants of those born on British Indian Ocean Territory
- (1) A person is entitled to be registered as a British Overseas Territories citizen on an application made under this section if they are a direct descendant of a person (“P”) who was a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies by virtue of P’s birth in the British Indian Ocean Territory or, prior to 8 November 1965, in those islands designated as the British Indian Ocean Territory on that date.
- (2) A person who is being registered as a British Overseas Territories citizen under this section is also entitled to be registered as a British citizen.
- (3) No charge or fee shall be imposed for registration under this section.”’
The rejected new clause was accompanied by the following explanatory statement from its proposer:
- This new clause would allow anyone who is descended from a person born before 1983 on the British Indian Ocean Territory to register as a British Overseas Territories citizen. They may also register as a British citizen at the same time. Both applications would be free of charge.
The explanatory statement refers to 1983, but the clause refers to 8 November 1965 as the cut-off date for the birth of the person whose descendents are impacted by the clause.
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- [1] Parliament's webpage on the Nationality and Borders Bill, Parliament.uk
- [2] Nationality and Borders Bill, as introduced 6 July 2021, Parliament.uk
- [3] Explanatory notes to the Nationality and Borders Bill, as introduced 6 July 2021, Parliament.uk
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.
| Party | Majority (No) | Minority (Aye) | Both | Turnout |
| Alba | 0 | 2 | 0 | 100.0% |
| Alliance | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100.0% |
| Con | 305 (+2 tell) | 7 (+1 tell) | 0 | 87.0% |
| DUP | 0 | 7 | 0 | 87.5% |
| Green | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100.0% |
| Independent | 1 | 4 | 0 | 100.0% |
| Lab | 0 | 173 | 0 | 86.9% |
| LDem | 0 | 7 | 0 | 58.3% |
| PC | 0 | 3 | 0 | 100.0% |
| SDLP | 0 | 2 | 0 | 100.0% |
| SNP | 0 | 38 (+1 tell) | 0 | 86.7% |
| Total: | 306 | 245 | 0 | 86.7% |
Rebel Voters - sorted by vote
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
| Name | Constituency | Party | Vote |
| John Baron | Basildon and Billericay | Con | aye |
| Crispin Blunt | Reigate | Con | aye |
| Peter Bone | Wellingborough | whilst Con (front bench) | aye |
| David Davis | Haltemprice and Howden | Con | aye |
| Philip Hollobone | Kettering | Con (front bench) | aye |
| Tim Loughton | East Worthing and Shoreham | Con (front bench) | aye |
| Andrew Rosindell | Romford | Con (front bench) | tellaye |
| Henry Smith | Crawley | Con (front bench) | aye |