Abstract
This article analyses the new deprivation of citizenship power in s40(4A) of the British Nationality Act 1981, inserted by the Immigration Act 2014, and particularly the requirement that deprivation targets must be naturalised citizens. It is shown that this condition violates Article 14 ECHR taken together with Article 8, relying on the recent seminal cases of Genovese and Biao. Using the reasoning of the ECtHR in these cases, this article argues 1) that deprivation of citizenship, which seriously affects the social identity of the individual, is within the ambit of Article 8 for the purposes of Article 14 and 2) that the government must give compelling or very weighty reasons, unrelated to ethnic origin, to justify the discriminatory nature of s40(4A). This article argues that a suitable justification has not been given and probably does not exist and that therefore s40(4A) is incompatible with the ECHR. To rectify this problem and remain compliant with the UK’s international law commitments regarding statelessness, s40(4A) must be repealed.