UK to End Freedom of Movement for EU Citizens

UK citizen free movement will end on day one of a no-deal Brexit, as new Home Office plans are underway. In spite of the warnings of chaos and people trapped in legal limbo. The new hardline home secretary, Priti Patel, is pressing for border restrictions to be compulsory on 31 October, even though the system is not ready.

Ministers previously had intended to delay removing the free movement until new rules are in place and arguments over what those rules should be. The Liberal Democrats judged the acceleration as “brutal”, warning, as it exposed Ms Patel as being “completely apart from reality”.

The organisation presenting more than 3 million EU citizens in the UK said: “This will be discriminating, and there are no systems in place.” Instead, Ms Patel believes that she can act through secondary legislation, in a way which would bypass MPs of all parties that would oppose it.

The Home Office officials have been sent to Singapore to copy its results for technical issues, with the home secretary convinced it could be introduced quickly. The Liberal Democrats spokesman, Ed Davey, has said: “It is detached from reality, and it is the next chapter which will never end and the mess they are creating of Brexit.

“What would this mean for EU citizens who made their home in the UK? And to those who have travelled abroad, they will try to return? Are the government suggesting an NHS nurse, who is an EU national and if they are on holiday, will they not be allowed to return? It is absurd.” Ed Davey is unclear that Ms Patel could avoid passing an act of parliament, describing any such attempt as “outrageous”.

Nicolas Hatton, who is the head of the 3 million groups of EU citizens in this country, has stated: “There are no systems in place, and nothing is ready as well. It is a political movement, but it will have a real impact on people’s lives.

“It will open the door to discrimination. How will they differentiate between the ‘legacy people’, those already here, and those who will arrive afterwards?”

 

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