D4 (claimant/respondent) –v- The Secretary of State for the Home Department (defendant/appellant)
Tuesday 7th December 2021
The SSHD appeals the Order of Chamberlain J dated 30 July 2021 allowing a claim for Judicial Review, declared Regulation 10(4) of the British Nationality (General) Regulations 2003 ultra vires, void and of no effect. Chamberlain J further declared the Order dated 27 December 2019, which purported to deprive D4 of British Citizenship, void and of no effect.
Brief Factual Background: By Order dated 27 December 2019, the Home Secretary purported to deprive D4 (the Respondent) of British Citizenship. The British Nationality (General) Regulations 2003 (`the Regulations’) were made under s.40(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981 (`1981 Act’). The Regulations empowered the Home Secretary to make an order depriving a person of British Citizenship. The Home Secretary, before making such an order, was required to give notice specifying that she had decided to make the order, the reasons for it and the right of appeal. The issue before Chamberlain J was whether Parliament gave the Home Secretary that power. That depended on whether the power to make regulations for the giving of any notice included a power to allow the Home Secretary to treat notice as given by placing it on a private file in the Home Office, even though it could never come to the attention of the affected person by that means.
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