Tower Hamlets councillor calls for tightening up of British citizenship procedure

British citizenship is being de-valued and the system needs tightening up, according to Tower Hamlets councillor Peter Golds.

Mr Golds, Conservative councillor for Blackwall and Cubitt Town, has attended hundreds of citizenship ceremonies, but admitted he was taken aback at his most recent experience.

He claimed that a woman from Eastern Europe snatched her certificate and attempted to leave before proceedings had come to an end, a turn of events which Mr Golds said “cheapened” the ceremenony.

The experience left him so astonished that he is now calling on the Coalition government to tighten up controls over who is awarded citizenship.

He said: “This woman spoke English very well, but as we got up to sing the national anthem she just pushed past me and walked out.

“It was a really very unnerving occasion.”

He also added that some of his constituents had broached the subject with him: “People have expressed concerns about how citizenship is handed out, and I do think that the system needs to be tightened up.”