Section:GDN 1N PaGe:8 Edition Date:190821 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 20/8/2019 20:34 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
- The Guardian Wednesday 21 Au g u st 2019
(^8) National
Politics
Ending free movement could be
Windrush, on steroids – Corbyn
Rowena Mason
Jessica Elgot
Amelia Gentleman
Stopping freedom of movement
immediately on 31 October could
lead to a situation like “ Windrush, on
steroids” and the idea is “utterly ludi-
crous”, Jeremy Corbyn said yesterday.
On a visit to businesses engaged
in no -deal preparation in Stevenage,
Hertfordshire, the Labour leader said:
“Does that mean that a EU national
living in this country – possibly as a
doctor, a nurse, a trauma surgeon, all
kinds of things – goes home to see their
family in Germany or Czech Republic
or wherever else, they are not allowed
back into this country? Is this another
Windrush, on steroids?”
The government wants to end rights
under free movement law for EU
nationals who arrive after 31 October
if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
The Windrush scandal , which led
to the resignation of Amber Rudd as
home secretary, exposed how the
government was wrongly deporting
people who came to the UK from the
Caribbean as children in the 1950s and
60s but could not prove their immi-
gration status.
Two million EU citizens resident in
Britain ha ve not yet registered for set-
tled status. The deadline is June 2021,
or December 2020 if the UK leaves the
EU without a deal.
Corbyn said he did not believe Boris
Johnson was serious about any form
of negotiation with the EU before the
Brexit deadline. He said businesses he
had spoken to were “appalled at the
idea of a no-deal Brexit, and I think
the prime minister should go and talk
to them.”
He added: “He needs to recognise
that just holding the threat of a no-
deal Brexit on 31 October towards the
EU isn’t going to bring about a change,
it’s going to make things much worse.
He created this arbitrary date by his
behaviour during the Tory leadership
campaign. He needs to wise up and
stop the nonsense with 31 October and
start talking seriously.”
A Home Offi ce source disputed the
comparison to Windrush as they said
EU citizens would have until Decem-
ber 2020 to apply for settled status.
They said EU citizens would be able
to move freely between the UK and
Europe until a new immigration sys-
tem was put in place, apart from facing
some extra checks to stop some cate-
gories of criminals entering Britain.
“Anyone comparing ending free-
dom of movement with Windrush is
either not in possession of the facts or
▼ Jeremy Corbyn hears about Brexit
concerns on a visit to the Stevenage
Business & Technology centre
PHOTOGRAPH: SEAN SMITH/THE GUARDIAN
deliberately stoking fear,” the source
said.
EU nationals living in Britain again
called on the government yesterday
to provide urgent clarity on their sta-
tus in the event of a sharp end to free
movement, following a no-deal Brexit.
“ How will border offi cials, employ-
ers, landlords, the NHS and others
distinguish between EU citizens who
came to live in the UK before 31 Octo-
ber and those who came after? It leaves
people with the impression that the
government itself doesn’t know ,”
said Stephanie Dawoud of IMIX, an
immigration charity supporting EU
nationals in the UK.
Many were concerned about mak-
ing trips over half-term and several
said they had cancelled planned trips
because they were worried about how
they would prove their entitlement to
return to the UK.
An Australian woman, with dual
nationality through her French hus-
band, said she was cancelling a trip to
Australia to bury her mother’s ashes.
“I am unsure if I will be able to return
as I have no proof that I am legally res-
ident,” she wrote.
A solicitor who moved from Swe-
den at the age of three in the 1980s,
who has not yet applied for settled
status because she does not have an
android phone (and the application
does not work on iPhones), said she
was unhappy about having to apply to
live in a country where she had been a
resident for decades.
Dana Whiston, a German citizen
about to move to the UK with her Brit-
ish husband, said she was worried she
would be in legal limbo.
“What will happen if I go abroad
on holiday? What distinction is there
between me and someone arriving
after 31 October if I have no proof of
my status?,” she wrote. “The govern-
ment is not prepared to answer these
questions clearly. They are not inter-
ested in giving EU nationals any kind
of security. All they want is to be seen
to be hard on immigration.”
The3million , which represents EU
nationals in the UK, said the plans of
Priti Patel, the home secretary, were
reckless.
Nicolas Hatton, a co-founder of the
group, said: “Ending freedom of move-
ment without putting legal provisions
in place for those EU citizens who have
not yet successfully applied through
the settlement scheme will mean that
millions of lawful citizens will have
their legal status removed overnight.”
‘[Boris Johnson]
needs to wise up and
stop the nonsense
with 31 October’
Jeremy Corbyn
Labour leader
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