We have been granted permission to intervene before the Court of Appeal in The Secretary of State for the Home Department v K (a Child). This is the Secretary of State’s appeal against the High Court judgment, which held that section 50 (9A) of the British Nationality Act 1981 (‘BNA 1981’) is discriminatory and therefore incompatible with human rights obligations under Article 14 ECHR, as read together with Article 8.
Section 50 (9A) of the BNA 1981 states that if a woman is married at the time she gives birth to a child in the UK, for the purposes of British nationality law, her husband will be deemed to be the father of the child. This will be the case even if there is irrefutable proof that another man is the biological father, and even if the mother is separated from her husband at the time of the child’s birth. This child will not be entitled to British nationality through the biological father (unlike children of unmarried parents), but could make a paid,…