Greens slam leaked Home Office paper on EU nationals
The “angry, isolated” nature of Tory Brexit is starting to seep out of the UK government says a Green MSP, after a plan to deter EU immigrants and fingerprint those arriving was leaked from the Home Office.
The paper reveals a harsh and arbitrary post-Brexit migration framework that includes the definition of “family” as being restricted to only direct family members, for newly arrived EU nationals to provide sensitive biometric data, including fingerprints and that immigrants must meet minimum income thresholds which are steadily higher if they have a spouse or children.
Ross Greer MSP, the Scottish Greens’ external affairs spokesperson, also says the UK government is failing to see the positive contribution that migrants have made to the economy, society, and culture.
Greer, a West of Scotland MSP, said:
“This embarrassing paper shows the UK government is preparing to extend it’s nightmarish, arbitrary and cruel immigration system for non-Europeans to EU citizens as well after Brexit, regardless of the significant damage this will do to our health service, economy and families across the country who could be torn apart by such rules. To essentially set a price on residency which goes up by £2400 for every child you have is a nasty, inward-looking move from a government seemingly obsessed with making this as unattractive a country to live in as possible.
“Time and again with this angry, isolated Brexit, we see examples of families threatened with separation simply because they do not earn enough for the Westminster government to allow members who are non-EU citizen to stay. Now the Tories are proposing this horrible system, where a non-EU worker in the UK wanting to bring their spouse into the country must earn a minimum of £18,600 a year, applies to EU citizens as well. For a country so reliant on attracting nurses, for example, from other parts of the world, these immigration rules are truly an example of cutting off your nose to spite your face.”