Man born and raised in UK told he is not a British citizen

[Matilda]

"A 21-year-old man who was born and raised in Britain has been told to leave the UK by the Home Office because he is not a British citizen.

'Shane Ridge, a joiner from Colne in Lancashire who describes himself as “as British as they come”, received a letter from the Home Office last week informing him that his driving licence would be revoked as he had “no lawful basis to be in the UK”.

"It came as a surprise because all of Ridge’s relatives are British citizens. His mother was born in Australia during a family holiday, but has lived in Britain since then and has dual citizenship.

"Under UK law, if a child was born before July 2006, the father’s British nationality will usually only automatically pass to the child if he was married to the mother at the time of birth. Because Ridge’s parents never married, he does not have an automatic right to citizenship and is required to apply for “right of abode”.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/29/joiner-shane-ridge-born-and-raised-in-britain-told-to-leave-home-office


There are a number of similar cases we read about, but I'm struck by things such as cancelling his driver's licence, and suspending his bank account. Things like that seem to be deliberately spiteful, and I wonder just what they're trying to prove, not least because this young man has committed no criminal act, nor is he a "welfare bludger" - he's been working and living a very normal sort of life.

I lived in the UK in the late sixties and was there when they started tightening the rules against commonwealth citizens living in Britain. I did know a couple of people who were given a definite date to leave the UK, which carried penalties if they stayed on, but that date was always about six months in advance, not "get out now". I was never, ever made to feel unwelcome in England, and this attitude stuns me.

This isn't the Britain I knew and loved.