Britain cannot remove Isis members’ citizenship without telling them, High Court rules

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Isis members are believed to make up a significant proportion of at least 150 people who have had their British citizenship removed for the “public good” since 2014. Shamima Begum reads Home Office letter revoking her British citizenship The law states that the government ”must give the person written notice“ of a citizenship deprivation decision, providing reasons for it and notifying them of their right to appeal. Mr Justice Chamberlain said the British Nationality Act 1981 did not give the Home Office the power to “dispense with the requirement to give notice”. He declared the rule change “ultra vires”, meaning it was outside the government’s legal power, and added: “Parliament did not give the home secretary power to make regulations that treat notice as having been given to the person affected when it has not been given to that person but instead has simply been placed on a Home Office file.” The judge called citizenship deprivation a “very substantial interference” with fundamental rights and said the government either has to give people notice or change the law.