The baby born one day too soon for a British passport

The son of a British father and an Italian mother has been left without citizenship of either country because he was born one day before a legal loophole was closed.

Leo Poole was born on June 30 at Southmead Hospital in Bristol. His parents, who want to take their son to Italy to visit relatives, assumed that he would be entitled to a British passport.

But Martin Poole, 56, and Christiana Nisi, 36, were told that Leo was not eligible for British citizenship because they are unmarried and Miss Nisi is foreign. If he had been born one day later, he would have been granted a British passport. The law was revised 11 days ago. Leo does not qualify for a passport under Italian regulations because his mother lives in England.