Reprieve is calling for the UK’s racist citizenship stripping laws to be abolished.

What is citizenship stripping?

Citizenship stripping is an extreme measure that can deprive British nationals of crucial legal rights at a stroke of the Home Secretary’s pen.
Under section 40(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981, the Home Secretary can strip certain British citizens of their nationality if she believes it to be “conducive to the public good”. No crime needs to be committed, and there is no trial– it is something that the Home Secretary can simply do at the stroke of a pen.

Who can it affect?

These powers can be used against all British citizens who have dual nationality (including those who acquired a second nationality automatically at birth), as well as naturalised citizens whom the Home Secretary believes could acquire another nationality, even if they don’t have it at the time they are deprived. Millions of British people with foreign heritage are vulnerable to being deprived of all the rights that come with their UK passport.

Why does it matter?

• Over the last fourteen years, the UK has become a world leader in citizenship deprivation – it’s the only G20 nation to strip people of their nationality in bulk. Britain has stripped ten times as many people of citizenship as France in the last fourteen years.
• This UK policy is fundamentally racist– only people with foreign ties can have their citizenship taken. Research indicates that the power has been used almost exclusively against British Muslims mainly of South Asian, Middle-Eastern, and African heritage. The New Statesman found that 2 in 5 people from non-white ethnic minority backgrounds are likely to be eligible for deprivation of citizenship, compared to just 1 in 20 people categorised as white.
• It undermines equality before the law, gives the Home Secretary far too much power, and denies British people in extremely high risk situations the protections they would be entitled to as citizens.

Citizenship stripping is a cruel and racist policy. It tells British people with a connection to another nationality, however weak, that their passport is worth less and their rights are less secure than others.
We must ensure that every British citizen is equal before the law. Our laws need to promote a unifying vision of British citizenship, fostering a sense of belonging and shared identity among British people of all backgrounds.

We’ll be sharing more information, tools, and actions you can take to stand against this harmful law soon.