Uk Nationals Returning from Syria

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 3:58 pm on 18 February 2019.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Edward Leigh Edward Leigh Conservative, Gainsborough 3:58, 18 February 2019

We would not want to fall foul of the European Court of Human Rights, would we? However, as a member of the Council of Europe, I refer the Home Secretary to recent judgments of the Council and the Court that one cannot deprive somebody of citizenship in an arbitrary way. Without asking him to comment on any individual cases, surely as a matter of law, it would not be arbitrary to strip someone of a passport if they willingly go out to join the jurisdiction of a terrorist organisation that has beheaded people, and all the rest, so I urge the Home Secretary to be robust on this matter. He will have the support not only of the whole country, but even of human rights lawyers.