Peter Walker’s analysis of the stakes in the Shamima Begum case before the European court of human rights gives voice to fears I and no doubt many other dual nationals living in the UK harbour (Ministers cannot go on ignoring the Shamima Begum case, for two important reasons, 2 January).
I am an Australian citizen who has lived in the UK for half my life and was naturalised as a British citizen almost 20 years ago. I obey the law, work, pay taxes and do not claim any benefits. For people in my position, stripping Ms Begum of her British citizenship set a dangerous precedent.
Nigel Farage and Reform UK continue to blur the distinctions between “asylum seeker”, “illegal immigrant” and “foreign-born national” (a category that includes naturalised citizens like me) and have even threatened mass deportations for those with indefinite leave to remain. This “fudge”, borrowed from the playbooks of would-be authoritarians throughout history, is deliberate.
The Labour government and our hapless Tory opposition are sleepwalking our country into a future far-right takeover of British politics. They have normalised much of this rhetoric as the “legitimate concerns” of “ordinary” people. While racist attacks have spiked against migrant communities, they instead propose policies that seek to placate Reform voters, which only further entrenches extremist opinion in the political mainstream.
It was Nazi Germany and its fascist allies throughout Europe that stripped Jewish and other minorities of their rights as citizens during the 1930s. As unsympathetic as many may feel towards Ms Begum’s plight, her case matters for millions of law-abiding British citizens who were born overseas. If she can be rendered stateless despite being born and raised here and having never faced a criminal trial in the UK, none of our rights as naturalised citizens under a future Reform government are safe.
Dr Alexander Smith
Associate professor of sociology, University of Warwick
