A SCOTS MP is to raise an urgent question at Westminster after the UK Home Office posted an online video telling European citizens living in the UK that they would have to apply and pay to continue living here.
The video – which said adults would face a charge of £65, with a fee of £32.50 for children – provoked outrage on social media and worry among EU nationals.
SNP MP Pete Wishart tweeted that he would raise the issue in the Commons: “I will be asking for an Urgent Question on ‘the Home Office and the need to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme’ on the day we return. Hope lots of MPs do the same. We need to register our overwhelming disgust at this.”
Former MP Angus Robertson wrote: “Shameful. Disgraceful. Demeaning. Scotland didn’t vote for this. Hope EU national friends and neighbours know they are welcome regardless of this appalling UK Govt ‘scheme’.”
Replying to Robertson, Judith Houston wrote: “I have lived, worked, employed people and thereby created jobs for 21 years ... and now I have to go through an application process plus pay £65 for the ‘privilege’ of staying ... this is degrading and inhuman ... thus [sic] is far from ... ‘those who are already here can stay’.”
Journalist Ruth Wishart said: “There comes a moment when we have to say, ‘this is not us - we will not comply or be complicit’. The UK’s appalling scheme for EU citizens resident here cannot go unchallenged. #indyref2.”
Patrick Leece tweeted: “My wife has to pay to continue to be a wife and mother of two British children in the UK? This is madness isn’t it?”
The video opens with people sitting at a table in a beer garden, and explains that the scheme will check “three basic principles” – identity, UK residence details, and criminality.
EU citizens and their families will need to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to continue living in the UK after 31 December 2020.
— Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) December 27, 2018
Find out more: https://t.co/S5UB9n8iFU #Brexit pic.twitter.com/HdqySqRk8M
SNP immigration spokesperson at Westminster, Stuart McDonald, said: “These adverts highlight the horrible consequences of Brexit and Theresa May’s obsession with ending free movement of people – both are grave mistakes. The SNP have committed to meet the fee for settled status applications for EU citizens working in the devolved public sector in Scotland.
“Free movement has been hugely beneficial for Scotland, our people and our economy. The Tories at Westminster are making the case clearer than ever for Scotland to have an immigration policy suited to our specific circumstances and needs.”
Chai Patel, from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said the Leave campaign had promised that nothing would change for EU nationals who had made their homes here.
“The Government has betrayed that promise,” he said. “They are forcing EU nationals to pay to remain in the UK with fewer rights than they had before. And the crass nature of their advertising campaign shows they have not understood what a terrible blow it is for our European friends and neighbours to be told they don’t belong with us, unless they fill out a form and pay a fee by a certain date. We must do better than this.”
External Affairs Secretary, Fiona Hyslop added: “The Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament have called on the UK Government to drop the fee – it’s time they listened and stopped imposing their hostile, damaging immigration policies on Scotland.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “EU citizens make a huge contribution to our economy and to our society and we want them to stay. It is vital that EU citizens and their family members know their rights and entitlements are protected, and understand what to do when the Settlement Scheme goes live in March 2019.”
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