Deprivation Of Citizenship And Deception: Mo Than Meets The Eye

• Published date: 15 July 2022
• Subject Matter: Immigration, Criminal Law, General Immigration, White Collar Crime, Anti-Corruption & Fraud
• Law Firm: Latitude Law
• Author: Ms Victoria Waller

Sir Mo Farah has recently revealed that he was trafficked to the UK as a young child and subjected to abuse after being forced into domestic labour. Headlines reporting how he was trafficked to the UK and treated like a slave have referred to him as 'an illegal immigrant' and highlighted the threat to his British citizenship due to these revelations. For the four-time Olympic champion, lauded as one of the UK's most successful athletes, the idea that his very status as a British citizen could be at risk is nothing short of shocking.

British Nationality Act 1981

Debate around the right to deprive British nationality resurfaced even before Sir Mo Farah's recent announcement. New powers in the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 now allow the Home Office to deprive a person of their British citizenship without giving them notice. As contentious as this is, such measures are restricted to exceptional circumstances, for instance where such notice would prejudice sensitive intelligence sources. The introduction of these measures highlights the key theme that runs throughout the legislation; British citizenship is a right, not a privilege.

Section 40 of the British Nationality Act 1981 sets out the circumstances in which a person can be deprived of their British citizenship. The aim of Section 40 BNA 1981 is to maintain national security and public safety. Importantly, the power to deprive can only be exercised in certain circumstances, namely where deprivation of citizenship is conducive to the public good or if citizenship was obtained fraudulently. Section 40(4) BNA 1981 confirms that a person cannot be deprived of their citizenship if this would render them stateless but this does not apply to every situation. Section 40(4A) BNA 1981 stipulates that a person could still be deprived of citizenship even if this renders them stateless if certain circumstances apply. Importantly, this includes where a person has obtained British citizenship from naturalisation.

Deprivation is conducive to the public good

The definition of 'conducive to the public good' is set out in the Secretary of State's guidance as follows:

55.4.4 'Conduciveness to the Public Good' means depriving in the public interest on the grounds of involvement in terrorism, espionage, serious organised crime, war crimes or unacceptable behaviours.

Therefore, the situations in which it could be considered conducive to the public good to deprive an individual of citizenship connects to those who represent...