Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

British Muslims reduced to 'second class' due to racist citizenship removal system, says thinktank

The targets were almost exclusively “British Muslims of south Asian heritage,� said the report.

British Muslims reduced to 'second class' due to racist citizenship removal system, says thinktank

Citizenship-stripping powers introduced in the UK since 2002 have enshrined a “second-class citizenship”, mainly affecting Muslims, a London-based think tank said.

Institute of Race Relations said in a report that the powers that allowed citizenship to be removed without notice led to the creation of a lesser form of citizenship.

While the government claimed only those whose actions posed grave threats to national security, or who committed abhorrent crimes, would lose their citizenship, the report argued that the ambiguous criteria for deprivation increased the likelihood of arbitrary and discriminatory decisions.

According to it, both Labour and Conservative governments have given ministers successively wider powers to revoke the citizenship of those with access to another citizenship – who are mainly ethnic minorities.

The targets were almost exclusively “British Muslims of south Asian heritage,” said the report, which came amid the renewed controversy over the alleged smuggling of Shamima Begum into Syria when she was a school girl and in the wake of the Nationality and Borders Act.

It recalled that in December 2013, then home secretary Theresa May had asserted “British citizenship is a privilege, not a right” while revealing she had revoked the British citizenship of 20 jihadists that year.

“The statement, repeated by successive Home Office ministers, is directed at Muslims, not at the British population as a whole, and is understood as such,” the report titled, Citizenship: from right to privilege’, said.

For “native” Britons, UK citizenship was an inalienable, irrevocable and unconditional right, but was only a “withdrawable ‘privilege”, for others - British-born, registered or naturalised

citizens with another nationality or access to one, it said.

Institute vice chair Frances Webber who authored the report said: “The message sent by the legislation on deprivation of citizenship since 2002 and its implementation largely against British Muslims of south Asian heritage is that, despite their passports, these people are not and can never be ‘true’ citizens, in the same way, that ‘natives’ are.”

“While a ‘native’ British citizen, who has access to no other citizenship, can commit the most heinous crimes without jeopardising his right to remain British, none of the estimated 6 million British citizens with access to another citizenship can feel confident in the perpetual nature of their citizenship,” he wrote in the report.

More For You

Knife crimes

Knife-enabled crimes include cases where a blade or sharp instrument was used to injure or threaten, including where the weapon was not actually seen.

Getty Images/iStockphoto

Knife crime in London accounts for a third of national total: ONS

KNIFE-RELATED crime in London made up almost a third of all such offences recorded in England and Wales in 2024, with the Metropolitan Police logging 16,789 incidents, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday.

This amounts to one offence every 30 minutes in the capital and represents 31 per cent of the 54,587 knife-enabled crimes reported across England and Wales last year. The total number marks a two per cent rise from 53,413 offences in 2023.

Keep ReadingShow less
Starmer and Modi

Starmer and Modi shake hands during a bilateral meeting in the sidelines of the G20 summit at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Brazil, on November 18, 2024.

Getty Images

Starmer calls Modi over Kashmir attack; expresses condolences

PRIME MINISER Keir Starmer spoke to Indian prime minister Narendra Modi on Friday morning following the deadly attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam region that killed 26 people on Tuesday.

According to a readout from 10 Downing Street, Starmer said he was horrified by the devastating terrorist attack and expressed deep condolences on behalf of the British people to those affected, their loved ones, and the people of India. The two leaders agreed to stay in touch.

Keep ReadingShow less
 Post Office Horizon

A Post Office van parked outside the venue for the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry at Aldwych House on January 11, 2024 in London, England. (Photo: Getty Images)

Getty Images

Post Office spent £600m to keep Horizon despite plans to replace it: Report

THE POST OFFICE has spent more than £600 million of public funds to continue using the Horizon IT system, according to a news report.

Despite deciding over a decade ago to move away from the software, the original 1999 contract with Fujitsu prevented the Post Office from doing so, as it did not own the core software code, a BBC investigation shows.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pahalgam attack: Prayer meet held at Indian mission in London

The prayer meet was led by Indian High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami

Pahalgam attack: Prayer meet held at Indian mission in London

Mahesh Liloriya

A PRAYER meet was held at the Gandhi Hall in the High Commission of India in London on Thursday (24) to pay respects to the victims of the Pahalgam terrorist attack.

Chants of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ rang out at the event which was led by Indian High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami.

Keep ReadingShow less
UK  mini heatwave

Sunny conditions will bring early summer warmth

Getty

UK to see mini heatwave as temperatures climb towards 24 °c

The UK is set for a period of warmer weather in the coming days, with temperatures expected to rise significantly across parts of the country. According to the Met Office, a spell of dry and sunny conditions will bring early summer warmth, although it will fall short of the threshold for an official heatwave.

Temperatures in south-eastern and central England could reach 23°c to 24°c by Tuesday, around 10C above the seasonal average for some areas. The Met Office described this as a “very warm spell” rather than a heatwave, though the contrast with recent cooler weather will be noticeable.

Keep ReadingShow less