2017] Citizenship Stripping Laws in the UK, Canada and Australia 9 ‘vital interests of the United Kingdom’ test, as well as a number of other safeguards, such as the protection against statelessness and provision for automatic legal appeals.30 In 2006, following the London suicide bombings on 7 July 2005, the threshold for citizenship deprivation was further lowered by granting the Home Secretary the power to revoke citizenship whenever he or she believed that citizenship deprivation would be ‘conducive to the public good’.31 The legislative protections against statelessness remained intact so, in practice, the deprivation power could only be exercised against dual citizens. The ‘conducive to the public good’ standard remains the general threshold for citizenship revocation today. However, in controversial changes introduced in 2014, the Home Secretary was granted the power to revoke in certain circumstances the citizenship of UK nationals with no other citizenship.32 Section 40(4A) of the British Nationality Act now provides that the Home Secretary may deprive a naturalised British citizen of their citizenship where he or she believes this would be ‘conducive to the public good’, even if that person would become stateless as a result. However, this power can only be exercised if the Home Secretary is satisfied that depriving the person of citizenship is for ‘the public good’ because, while they held citizenship status, they conducted themselves ‘in a manner which is seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the United Kingdom, any of the Islands, or any British overseas territory’.33 Additionally, the Home Secretary must have ‘reasonable grounds for believing that the person is able … to become a national of [a foreign] country or territory’ under the law of that country or territory.34 While the threshold for revocation is much higher when statelessness may ensue, the 2014 expansions to UK revocation law have been regarded as remarkable in their breadth. As a result of these expansions, it has been suggested 30 See Gibney, ‘The Deprivation of Citizenship in the United Kingdom’ (n 12) 330–2. Gibney explains that the ‘combination of expansion and contraction’ of the UK’s citizenship stripping powers in the 2002 Act was influenced by a desire to comply with the European Convention on Nationality, opened for signature 6 November 1997, ETS No 166 (entered into force 1 March 2000): Gibney, ‘The Deprivation of Citizenship in the United Kingdom’ (n 12) 332. 31 Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 (UK) s 56(1), amending British Nationality Act 1981 (UK) s 40(2). 32 Immigration Act 2014 (UK) s 66(1), inserting British Nationality Act 1981 (UK) s 40(4A). 33 British Nationality Act 1981 (UK) s 40(4A)(b). 34 Ibid s 40(4A)(c). For an analysis of the UK citizenship-stripping provisions and the circumstances in which they are used, see Terry McGuinness and Melanie Gower, ‘Deprivation of British Citizenship and Withdrawal of Passport Facilities’ (Briefing Paper No 06820, 9 June 2017) 5. Advance Copy