EUROPEAN Union citizens living in the UK feel safer in Scotland than south of the Border, new research has found.
Scotland’s overwhelming support for Remain and the reassurances from Nicola Sturgeon were cited as reasons for the difference.
People from 13 different countries were interviewed as part of the University of Birmingham study which found the atmosphere was “not, or less hostile” across the country when compared to England.
“I was feeling really depressed [after the referendum] but then I remember how Nicola Sturgeon went on telly the next morning and spoke directly to EU citizens in Scotland and it’s your home and so on, and that was really reassuring,” said one Danish man living in Glasgow.
READ MORE: Scottish Government launches post-Brexit support plan for EU citizens
The research from the University of Birmingham’s Institute for Research into Superdiversity also found there was still unease and uncertainty about what the future holds for EU citizens living in the UK.
One UK citizen who is married to and has five children with an EU citizen said they feel the vote to leave the EU is “saying to me the way I live my life is no longer acceptable because I married a foreigner”.
The study, titled EU families and Eurochildren in Brexiting Britain, found others who said their confidence in their own identity had been challenged after being forced to apply for British citizenship.
“While frustration, anxiety, and disappointment are shared by all participants, we found a stark difference on how EU nationals feel about post-referendum Britain whether they live in England or Scotland,” said Nando Sigona, a professor at the University of Birmingham’s Institute for Research into Superdiversity which conducted the study.
“EU citizens in Scotland are worried about Brexit and what it will mean to them and the future of their children. But they also feel at home in Scotland, more than elsewhere in the UK. They feel valued for their contribution. More importantly, they feel they can belong to the Scottish nation because this is not in opposition with being also French, Italian, Polish and European.”
The director of Migrant Voice and partner of the Eurochildren project, Nazek Ramadan, has called on policymakers across the UK to take heed of the findings of the study to ensure that all migrants in the UK “feel safe and comfortable, and have a chance at a good and prosperous life”.
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