In a highly unusual clarification, the Supreme Court has said it played no role in the 2021 decision that led to the award of UK citizenship to the Egyptian political activist whose arrival in the UK last week prompted a major political row. The prime minister has come under fire for initially welcoming Alaa Abd El Fattah's release despite the emergence of social media posts which Sir Keir Starmer later described as 'absolutely abhorrent'.

The Conservatives and Reform UK have said Abd El Fattah's citizenship should be revoked. 'He was, and remains, a threat to national security, and his presence in the UK is clearly not conducive to the public good,' shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said yesterday. 

In a statement issued last night, the Supreme Court denied press reports that the citizenship decision was made as the result of one of its rulings eliminating a 'good character' requirement for certain applicants for citizenship.

The statement was apparently referring to a report in the Mail stating that: 'El-Fattah was granted British citizenship in 2021 on the basis that his mother was born in this country while her mother was visiting as a student. In the past, officials were able to make an assessment of the "good character" of applicants seeking citizenship through this route. But this was dropped in 2019 following a Supreme Court ruling in a separate case brought under the European Convention on Human Rights.'

In fact, the Supreme Court said, the 2017 case was heard by the Administrative Court, 'which issued a consent order (ie an order to which the home secretary agreed) by which a declaration of incompatibility was made in relation to section 47(1) of the Borders Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009. This section had introduced a good character requirement for applications for citizenship under section 4C of the British Nationality Act 1981, which were based on the British citizenship of the applicant’s mother. Since no such requirement applied to persons similarly placed whose right to citizenship was based on the citizenship of their father, this was agreed to constitute discrimination based on sex.'

The statement continued: 'The order made by the Administrative Court did not alter the legal effect of the legislation. It was for the government to decide whether and how to respond. It decided to make the British Nationality Act 1981 (Remedial) Order 2019, which was then approved by parliament. That order amended the British Nationality Act 1981, so that the good character requirement ceased to apply to all applications under section 4C.'

The Home Office has not officially commented on the Abd El Fattah case but government sources have indicated that the legal bar for revoking his citizenship has not been met.