Citizenship and diversity:

1
Citizenship and diversity

• How the UK became a multicultural society

2
Question

• How to you tell who is a citizen of a country
  who is not?
• Jus solis v. Jus sanguinis as polar types
• Jus solis born on the soil (e.g Canada, US,
  France)
• Jus sanguinis blood tie (Germany until
  recently)

3
UK before WW II

• Ethnically racially homogeneous
• Primary differences
• Religion
• Nationality
• Social class
• Social class primary line of cleavage in party
  system

4
UK today
Ethnic group
in 1999

White 93.3
Black-Caribbean 0.9
Black-African 0.7
Black-other 0.5
Indian 1.6
Pakistani 1.2
Bangladeshi 0.5
Chinese 0.2
Other Asian 0.4
Other Asian 0.7

• An ethnically diverse society
• Of a population of 57.9 million in 1999, about
  3.8 million (6.7) non-white

5
Transformation

• Reflects the empire come home
• Post world WW II emigration from new
  commonwealth
• Bound up with changing notions of British
  citizenship

6
British Citizenship/subjecthood

• Initially, anyone born under the British crown
  effectively anyone born within confines of the
  British Empire
• Potentially 800 million

7
1948 British Nationality Act

• Triggered by 1946 Canadian Citizens Act
• Defines 6 categories
• Citizenship of UK Colonies
• Citizens of Independent Commonwealth countries
• Irish British subjects
• British subjects without citizenship
• British protected persons
• Aliens
• Presumption small flow, 10-20,000 per year

8
Events issues

• 1948 Arrival of the Empire Windthrush, with 500
  Jamaicans
• 1950s
• rising immigration 50,000/year
• Occasional constituency pressures
• Colonial Office tries to discourage migration
  from new commonwealth
• But resists efforts to stem flow
• 1958 Nottingham Notting Hill Riots gt
  pressure for change

9
1962 Commonwealth Immigration Act

• Distinguishes between citizens of the UK
  Commonwealth (CUKC) subject to restriction
  those who are not, depending on whether their
  passports were issued on authority of London or
  by colonial or commonwealth government
• However, allows for family unification
• Rising immigration in anticipation of change
  136,000 in 1961-62

10
From 1962

• Continuing secondary migration as a result of
  family reunification ( 50,000 per year)
• 1965 Passage of Race Relations Act
• 1968 Enoch Powells Rivers of Blood Speech
  (Wolverhampton)
• Problems with exclusions
• Kenyan Asians did not take/were denied Kenyan
  citizenship -- denied entry (Wilson govt)
• Vs. 1972 Ugandan Asians allowed (Heath govt)

11
Commonwealth Immigration of Act 1968

• Require not only passport under authority of
  London, but also qualifying connection to UK

12
1971 Immigration Act

• Retain 1948 definitions
• Restricts right to reside in the UK to CUKC
  resident in the UK for 5 years or with
  grandparent born in the UK (patriality)

13
British Nationality Act 1981

• Provides legal definition of citizenship for
  Great Britain and Northern Ireland
• British Citizenship
• British Dependent Territories Citizenship (BTDC)
• British Overseas Citizenship (BOC)
• Latter two categories lack right to settle in the
  UK

14
Interpreting this saga

• Attempt to maintain open citizenship with special
  position both for the Irish for older
  commonwealth
• From Windthrush, growing concern about
  unanticipated migration
• Recourse to informal measures
• Press colonial govts to stem tide
• Informal queries to police about social problems
• Immigration continues, unabated

15
Conflicting pressures

• Home Office, some MPs (often Labour) want to
  restrict)
• Colonial later Commonwealth Office, anxious to
  maintain connections, resist
• Eventual restrictions, often tortuous
• Restrictions put in place, but paired with Race
  Relations Act, anti-discrimination legislation
• Immigration continues despite further restrictions

16
UK today

• Ethnically racially diverse
• Many citizens 2nd 3rd generation
• No one single ethnic or national group dominant
• Some better off than others
• Reluctance to accept asylum-seekers

17
Racial and ethnic incidents

• Occasional unrest
• Salmon Rushdie Affair
• Murder of Stephen Lawrence

18
Responses?

• Equality and Human Rights Commission ehrc
• Acceptance of cultural pluralism
• Reluctance to prohibit religious symbolism
• But how much?
• Acceptance of multiculturalism within common
  values (Parekh report)?
• But need of a new national story