Residents of the South Atlantic island of St Helena have won back the right of British citizenship 20 years after it was withdrawn in a campaign backed by Colchester MP Bob Russell.

In May the island marks the 500th anniversary of its discovery, and it has been British for most of that time.

It was a staging post on the route from Britain to South Africa and beyond at the height of the Empire, but ships seldom call there now and it does not even have an airfield.

The Queen has now given Royal Assent to the Overseas Territories Bill which restores British Citizenship to a dozen or more places worldwide which remain from the days of the British Empire.

Liberal Democrat Mr Russell took up the fight on behalf of the island after he was contacted by two Colchester residents.

One of them had a grandfather who was born on the island and the other was a woman who raises money for the 5,000 residents.

In 1999 Mr Russell was a member of a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association group which made a fact-finding visit to the island.

He is also the chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Island of St Helena Group and has welcomed visiting island officials to Colchester.

Mr Russell said: "I am delighted that the campaign for the restoration of British citizenship has been won. The islanders, a happy mix of African, Asian and European descendants, are proud to be British and were deeply hurt when their citizenship was taken away."

Published Tuesday, March 19, 2002