UK Politics

While I'm not enthusiastic about the idea of stripping citizenship as a general principle

so many other legal rights rest upon that

the UK doesn't have constitutional restrictions on doing so the way the US does:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afroyim_v._Rusk

Afroyim v. Rusk, 387 U.S. 253 (1967), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, which ruled that citizens of the United States may not be deprived of their citizenship involuntarily.[1][2][3] The U.S. government had attempted to revoke the citizenship of Beys Afroyim, a man born in Poland, because he had cast a vote in an Israeli election after becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen. The Supreme Court decided that Afroyim's right to retain his citizenship was guaranteed by the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vance_v._Terrazas

Vance v. Terrazas, 444 U.S. 252 (1980), was a United States Supreme Court decision that established that a United States citizen cannot have their citizenship taken away unless they have acted with an intent to give up that citizenship.

...and in fact has law explicitly permitting the Home Secretary to do so if he wants:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationality,_Immigration_and_Asylum_Act_2002

Deprivation of British nationality

Under amendments made by the act to the British Nationality Act 1981, British nationals can be deprived of their citizenship if the Secretary of State is satisfied they are responsible for acts seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the United Kingdom or an Overseas Territory.[3] This power is restricted to individuals who have dual citizenship.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration,_Asylum_and_Nationality_Act_2006

The Act contains several provisions empowering the Home Secretary to deprive a person of British citizenship (or Right of Abode) if it is considered that such deprivation is "conducive to the public good".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationality_and_Borders_Act_2022

It can also remove British citizenship from dual nationals without notice.

In Begum's case, there was particular controversy, because the UK is signatory to international treaties that it will not strip a single national's citizenship, and it was very questionable whether Begum was a dual national; the UK took the position that she was, whereas Bangladesh, which was supposed to be the country of which she was a dual national, did not consider her to be a Bangladeshi national. My own view is that countries should be considered authoritative on whether-or-not a person holds citizenship there; doing otherwise would lead to all kinds of legal problems, like being able to deny consular access to foreign nationals ("you aren't really a citizen of that country") and such, so the UK should have accepted Bangladesh's position on Begum's nationality.

But there's also the broader question of whether a government should be able to strip citizenship at all. In the US, the answer is "no", but, well, that ain't how the UK presently works.

Frankly, everyone involved in the decision to strip her citizenship should be arrested and prosecuted, irrespective of whether or not she's ever found guilty of any crimes.

That doesn't work, because they haven't done anything illegal.

The good news is that the current home secretary could decide that it would be for the good of the country to strip them all of their citizenship, and do that.

Agree. Looking at your username, are you a political commentator?