Theresa May on Citizens of Nowhere

Theresa May made her core position clear during her 2016 Conservative Party conference address, asserting that anyone who believes they are a citizen of the world is actually a citizen of nowhere because they do not comprehend the meaning of citizenship. She populated this concept with figures such as high-earning bosses, international companies avoiding tax, and entities refusing cooperation with anti-terrorist authorities, positioning them against her vision of the "spirit of citizenship." This spirit, she argued, involved respecting the bonds and obligations that sustain society and prioritizing local people over overseas labor.

This stance was framed in opposition to cosmopolitanism and was used to define her governing philosophy, especially in the context of the UK's relationship with the EU and global integration. Commentators noted that this rhetoric not only targeted rootless elites but also resonated with and possibly mobilized xenophobic sentiment, contrasting with internationalist perspectives. Conversely, some analyses of her government's actions, particularly regarding the revocation of citizenship for national security, suggest a practical application of delegitimizing certain Britons as stateless "citizens of nowhere".