British people are now better protected from terrorists,
extremists, and criminals involved in serious organised crime
with the passing of a new law which prevents British citizenship
being automatically reinstated to such individuals following a
successful initial appeal.
Receiving Royal Assent last night (27 October), the Deprivation of Citizenship
Orders (Effect during Appeal) Act 2025 will mean British
citizenship is not automatically reinstated after a successful
appeal until all further appeals are exhausted – ensuring the
UK's national security is not compromised during legal
proceedings.
The new law, passed by Parliament last Tuesday (21 October),
closes a gap identified following a Supreme Court judgment in
February 2025, where it ruled that people deprived of British
citizenship automatically regain that status upon their
successful appeal. This would happen even if further appeals
opposing that reinstatement are possible.
With the tightening of this law, the government will not have to
release people from immigration detention or allow them back into
the UK if they consider that they pose a threat to the country's
security and the public's safety, whilst further appeals are
ongoing.
It will also prevent a person from renouncing any other
nationalities they hold, to render themselves solely British.
Doing so would have meant any future decision to remove British
citizenship would not have been possible as it would leave them
stateless, nor would they be able to be deported or blocked from
returning to the UK.
Security Minister said:
The government takes national security extremely seriously, and
this new law sends a clear message: we will take no chances when
it comes to protecting our country and our people.
We have strengthened our ability to keep the most dangerous
people out of Britain – those who threaten our safety, our way of
life, and the values we stand for. This law makes us all safer.
The Home Secretary makes deprivation decisions
on ‘conducive to the public good' grounds only in the most
serious cases, where it is in the public interest to do so
because of the individual's conduct or the threat they pose to
the UK. An average of 12 people a year were deprived of British
citizenship between 2018 and 2023 for this reason.
This new law follows a similar approach taken in asylum and human
rights appeals cases, where asylum is not granted to a person
appealing a rejection until all further appeals, up to the Court
of Appeal, have been determined.
This narrowly focussed new act, which consists of two sections,
has made no change to a person's existing right to appeal and
doesn't widen the reasons for which a person could be deprived of
their citizenship.
