British Nationality
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to review the British citizenship of dual nationals convicted of previously expressing violent, racist or xenophobic sentiments.
Answered by Mike Tapp
The British Nationality Act 1981 provides the Secretary of State with the power to deprive an individual of their British citizenship where:
- The Secretary of State is satisfied that it would be conducive to the public good;
- The person acquired citizenship as a result of fraud, false representations or concealment of a material fact
The Government considers that deprivation on ‘conducive grounds’ is an appropriate response to activities such as those involving:
- National security, including espionage and acts of terrorism directed at this country or an allied power;
- Unacceptable behaviour of the kind mentioned in the then Home Secretary’s statement of 24 August 2005 (‘glorification’ of terrorism etc);
- War crimes; and
- Serious organised crime.
The Home Office publishes data relating to those deprived of British Citizenship on ‘conducive to the public good’ grounds. These are published in the Government Transparency Report: Disruptive and Investigatory Powers. Reports have been published up to 2024.
The figures from the previous five years of individuals who have been deprived of their British citizenship for this reason, are below:
Year | Number of individuals |
2021 | 8 |
2022 | 3 |
2023 | 2 |
2024 | 1 |
2025 | Not yet published |
In the interest of safeguarding national security, we do not break down these figures into sub-categories.
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