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UK PRIME MINISTER Theresa May is said to be poised to announce the end of free movement for new EU migrants when Article 50 triggers the Brexit negotiations next month.
She is expected to announce that EU citizens will no longer have the right to stay in the UK permanently at the same time that negotiations begin for Britain to leave the European Union.
The Telegraph reports that a cut-off date will be announced, where anyone from the EU who came to live and work in Britain before that date will have their rights protected as long as UK citizens living in Europe are granted the same assurances.
With no countries singled out, it is believed that this measure would apply to Ireland alongside all other EU member states, although this will be subject to negotiation during the Brexit talks.
Leading Eurosceptic MP Iain Duncan Smith said the expected announcement shows that Britain is taking back its borders, while giving clarity to the 3.6 million EU citizens already living in the country.
He said: “Theresa understands that if you want to take control you have to command the high ground. She will be giving clarity by setting a clear deadline while the European Union looks increasingly muddled and mean-spirited.”
Debate
Today, the Parliament’s House of Lords is set to scrutinise the bill allowing Britain to leave the EU, which made it through the House of Commons earlier this month.
Peers are set to discuss proposals including measures to guarantee the rights of EU nationals in Britain, and defining the parameters of a parliamentary vote on the final Brexit deal.
The so-called “committee stage” is the first opportunity for peers to make amendments, which would then get debated and voted on before being passed back to the House of Commons for approval.
If the Lords approves the bill without amendments it will be sent, after its final reading on 7 March, directly to Queen Elizabeth II to sign into law.
However, if there are amendments, the bill could bounce between the two houses as they try to agree on its final wording, potentially derailing May’s timetable.
Dick Newby, leader of the Liberal Democrats in the upper house, said there was strong support among peers for protecting the rights of EU citizens.
There is “an overwhelming desire to do the right thing and ensure that all EU nationals have the right to remain,” he was quoted as saying by the Guardian on Sunday.
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Conservative peer Michael Heseltine, a former deputy prime minister, vowed to support opposition moves to secure a parliamentary vote on the Brexit deal within the bill.
May has urged the Lords to neither amend the bill nor delay it.
“There will be debate and scrutiny in the House of Lords, but I don’t want to see anybody holding up what the British people want… which is for us to deliver Brexit, to leave the European Union,” she said.
Irish reaction
Speaking on RTÉ’s The News at One, Minister for State for European Affairs Dara Murphy said that one of the key issues to be addressed over the next few months will be the rights of British citizens in Europe, and vice versa.
He said that it was important that the tone for discussions between the EU and the UK remain “moderate” and that the fears of people affected by the end of free movement are addressed.
“The free movement of people around Europe has been an excellent contributory factor to economies and in enriching societies,” he said.
Minister Murphy said that it would be impossible to immediately suspend free movement as soon as Article 50 is triggered, despite what has been suggested by May’s administration.
“The legal position is very clear,” he said, adding that the rights of EU citizens are guaranteed until after the conclusion of the Brexit negotiations.
He later said that when free movement does end between the UK and the EU is “subject to the negotiations” around Brexit.
The Fine Gael TD for Cork North Central said that maintaining the common travel area was a key priority, and that the government here was focusing on ensuring this remained in place.
“There is a strong understanding [in the EU] that we have unique circumstances,” he added.
With reporting from AFP - © AFP, 2017
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Will the French continue to allow Calais to be the effective Border.
Will they maintain Camps and allow British immigration work on the French side of the Channel.
Interesting times ahead.
The calais camp might move to belcoo or beleek or swanlinbar!! United ireland Now!
@E Allen Treacy: Maybe but Not Emyvale or Lifford
thats all those pensioners in Spain fecked so
Did you read the article? Did anyone who gave you a thumbs up read the article I wonder. You could be right if what May is proposing is rejected but it seems like quite a fair agreement all things considered. If Europe were to send the Brits back then they’d just retaliate and there’d only be en masse disruption to people’s lives. There’d be no winners.
Brendan O’Connor, you are wrong, Spain or Portugal wont pull the plug on expats, they bring in so much needed money to these countries. It would also collapse the property market.
As she realises, that UK employees, working in the EU will be sent back to the UK, they just can’t have it both ways. Eat your cake Brexit crowd.
Rubbish. Doesn’t another sovereign country have the right to do what it’s people desire – without us providing advice?
Ironic you say that Maxwell. The British are the greatest suppressors of sovereignty in history.
JFN, surely you meant Mosquitos. Now they really are oppressive little b’stards.
Some great comments on this topic…mainly from people who haven’t read the article, don’t understand what they’ve read, wish it had said something else, believe they have a special insight into Brexit, simply wish ill upon the UK and it’s citizens or a combination of the above.
Your citizens can remain in UK, if UK citizens can remain in your country. There you go, the gist of the article reduced to one sentence. Seems entirely reasonable.
@Joseph Siddall:
You’re some genious Joseph. We’re part of the EU so the UK will have to come to an agreement with the EU 27 regarding migration and other matters. You don’t get to split EU countries off from each other.
Deriding someone else for being a “genious”. YCMIU.
Fred, thank you for the compliment. My summary was written to encompass all countries within the EU, not simply Ireland. Sorry you failed to understand this very simple use of language. As for not dealing with individual countries within the EU. The word that should, perhaps, be appended is…yet. The EU is by no means as homogenous as some vested interests would have you think.
Whatever, the compliment was nice.
@Damocles:
Damocles is a Brit living in Ireland. This article is very relevant to him but he doesn’t quite get the implications for his own situation.
Fred, do enlighten us. Precisely what are the implications for people, such as Damocles, living in Ireland?
@Joseph Siddall:
I’d worry more about yourself, a Brit living in Britain, when the full implications of Brexit are realised.
@joesidall, you seem to think, like Farage and his buddies, that the Brits pulling out will be the end of the EU.
Similar to the British attitude that former Colonies just wouldn’t be able to govern themselves without Great Britain to hold their hand.
News for you here, GB has voted to become irrelevant while the former Colonies thrive.
Says it all really.
Fred, woah, there buddy…lots of your posts have already told us what will happen. Are you now saying you don’t know?
Shocked.
@Joseph Siddall:
“The Telegraph reports that a cut-off date will be announced, where anyone from the EU who came to live and work in Britain before that date will have their rights protected as long as UK citizens living in Europe are granted the same assurances”
The article states that this EU citizens who arrived before the cutoff date may stay as long as their origin country allows UK citizens to stay. This is not exactly what you have stated which implies that there is no cutoff date.
I presume that May expects that UK citizens who travelled abroad after the “cutoff” will also be returning home without exception, as she proposes to do for EU citizens. The “quid pro quo” is only an option for those citizens who arrived prior to the cutoff. I would be happy, but surprised, to see the cutoff being relatively recent, but given the quality of people involved in Brexit I imagine the cutoff date will be from before the UK started to accept the eastern european citizens.
Gerry, no siree, UK leaving the EU will not be the end of it, nor the demise of the UK, despite lots of wishful thinking on here. It might just, though, create a rather large crack in the structure when a large contributor disappears. Presumably Germany will willing take the strain, or perhaps not.
You can already see how the UK is failing……McLaren Cars are building a new high-tech factory in Sheffield to build carbon fibre chassis for all their cars…..work currently done abroad. Boeing building a new high-tech factory, again in Sheffield, to build advanced airframe components. Believe it’s circa 200 jobs in each. Not big numbers, but neither are doing this merely to jump ship post-Brexit. Yes, sure signs of a nation in terminal decline….two world leaders in technology putting their faith in the UK.
@Fred Jensen:
I dont think thats how it works Fred, the UK can accept any nationality it wants – nothing to do with the EU. Should the UK decide to allow free travel to irish passport holders what are the EU going to do about it?
@Joseph Siddall: That just confirms what I suggested, your’e leaving and now it’s a plague on all ye’re houses. The reference to Maclaren is telling. Having had the biggest car industry in the world and the biggest ship building industry in the world among other industries, there’s very little left. GB is a massive failure and in comparison to the Industrial giants of Europe it’s a wasteland dependent upon the Japanese motor companies to stay in the game.
GB has failed massively and want to blame everyone else and bring down as many as possible.
Successes are in the vaults of the Cayman islands belonging to the best mates of the Tories who your countrymen reward with the reins of power.
Dennis, what you say about quid pro quo is precisely my understanding of what TM has said. My comment was made relative to the article, in which context I believe it is pretty clear that there will be a cut-off date. What that cut-off date might be is pure conjecture but I would like to think it is a lot more recent than you suggest….maybe even a date in March this year. All will doubtless be revealed.
Let me try again; “Dear EU countries, post-Brexit the UK government will be happy for those of your citizens already resident in the UK prior to dd/mm/yy to remain to live and work in the UK, with the proviso that you extend the same welcome to UK citizens already resident in your countries prior to that same date”. I think that describes the spirit, and actuality, of what is being proposed but I have no inside knowledge to say it is totally accurate. Hope that clears it up, and apologies for, apparently, being less than perfectly clear.
Gerry, I very much doubt that UK ever had the world’s largest car industry….USA surely held that title. It may have held the shipbuilding crown but that went to other nations sometime in the last century…if it ever did reside in UK.
As for the rest of your comment, there is really nothing substantive to respond to, just a disappointing level of the sort of comments I have come to expect from Fred.
The old Farage tactic. Might impress some of your mates.
Nuttel got his answer as well.
Enjoy begging the former Colonies for a bit of investment.
Theresa Maybe
This will hurt the economy pretty quickly. A lot of high tech companies in the UK rely on labour from the EU because the staff can’t be found in the UK. Faced with the prospect of having to apply for visas for a load of staff in two years time, a lot of companies will choose to set up any new offices within the EU where this isn’t an issue.
Their economy depends on people being able and prepared to do work that the natives either can’t do or won’t do.
As a desirable place to live it’s far down the list.
They must have a plan to allow people from the Commonwealth.
Even cheaper Labour then when they repeal all EU employment law.
There’s talk of bringing in the US as an associate member.
Gerry , the same immigrants that some English claim there are too many of already
@Joe Howard:
Will be something interesting to see the British working the fields by hand and picking those strawberries won’t it. Well, if that’s what they want!
The Brits want to pick strawberries – keep the white powder m8!¿
Love these news articles created from heresay and speculation.
Just imagine the British Expats all over Europe would be treated the same way and deported back to the UK, and also I think that even when Article 50 is triggered, the UK is still in the EU untill the negotations are over and Brexit is official, so restriciting the right of free movement would be pretty much illegal
Did you even bother to read the article?
@Jamie Lyons: Did you?
Yes I did and it makes it quite clear the only way expats would be impacted would be if European governments refused to allow similar protections being offered to EU migrants presently in Britain.
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus:
The British will indeed be treated exacelty the same way in the EU.
Any British coming to Ireland will not be guaranteed the right to stay, if Irish don’t have those guarantees in the UK.
Fred – you are stating that the common travel agreement, in operation since 1923, between Britain and Ireland is over? Can you please just confirm that is what you are saying will happen?
This was clearly coming and is obviously why EU migration into the UK has increased since the Brexit vote.
@Damocles: You can’t know that as there is no data.
What data there is (to the end of September 2016) shows an overall decline, and a decline in all areas apart from Romania and Bulgaria,
See Table 4 here – https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/bulletins/migrationstatisticsquarterlyreport/feb2017
However, there is clearly a larger pre-Brexit than post-Brexit period in those figures.
For anything from the last 4 months, there is just no data.
@Damocles:
Oh it is of course. If only we could all migrate to glorious Britannia, with its booming economy and rock solid sterling (i read the Daily Express a lot). We shall kneel before the might of Brittania, just as you desire.
By the way, you will face no guarantees of being able to stay in Ireland if this goes through. Better start making plans.
Even the thoroughly left wing Guardian is saying that record numbers of EU nationals are applying for residency.
@Damocles: That’s not what you said though. You said there was record migration. That is about applying for residency. A large driver there will be people who already live in the UK who have never had any need to apply for residency, but want to make sure that all is in order, should EU citizens lose their rights post-Brexit.
@Damocles: That says a record number were EXPECTED in the figures I cited.
Here’s the next day’s story after the figures came out
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/feb/23/net-migration-to-uk-falls-by-49000-after-brexit-vote
The Grauniad is so unreliable. My fault for relying in that filthy left wing rag.
Fred – how many Irish people emigrate to the UK every year for financial and professional reasons. Historically we do emigrate in large numbers to the UK, which benefits the individual and the UK, which makes your post utter tosh, as usual.
Europhiles unite to pay homage to our leader Angela Merkel and our future lizard overlord Martin Schulz.
I think Irish people and government need to start putting the interests of Irish people first!
Far too long Britain has benefitted to the detriment of Irish people, jobs and businesses. We need to start shipping beef and other products to all our EU neighbours and forget about the brits. We’ve been exploited for far too long!
The British gov are the most untrustworthy gov in the world and are only there ‘to serve the needs of the rich British elite.
Just an opinion.
@Diarmuid Brennan: it’s not been Britain’s fault that Ireland has not created enough jobs.
Irish people have benefited from been able to seek work in the UK.
But the reality is that NON EU countries generally don’t have freedom of movement. Yet that doesn’t stop us from sending beef to China or Irish people going to Austrailia.
Your right that Ireland should stand up for itself and do what’s right for its people but actually stopping trade with the UK isn’t actually in Irelands interests.
Don’t worry though – the EU will ensure that our UK trade is reduced and we can sell to China and Asia instead.
@Diarmuid Brennan:
Hopefully the Brexit negoitiations will include the provision of a direct trade route between Ireland and the continent, so our trade can by-pass the British entirely.
@Diarmuid Brennan: Going by the description it sounds like you’re talking about any government, the same as the Irish government too for that matter. Stop using it as an excuse to show bigotry towards your neighbours.
Eugene I do believe there is a direct link between the state of Ireland and Britain! They did rule us for 800 years so as they could exploit our resources. People resources included! Who do you think built Britain after WW2.
Look at it today Where does most of the Irish food exports go to! Britain benefits more from Ireland than Ireland does from them. Plus the fact we are a divided Island. It means we are weak. If we were a united Island we’d be a lot better off economically. We’d be very strong.
British politicians are very cunning!!! They promise a lot behind the scenes but never deliver on those! This can be seen all over the world.
I think a lot of people forget who currently rules Britain and controls the power! Michael Collins was right when he said that his problem wasn’t with the British people but the establishment.
There are still loads of “Big Houses” in Britain. Dukes and lordship. Barons and barronness who farm 1000′s of acres of land and send their kids to Oxford who have created their wealth in all of Britains former colonies (Ireland included) they send their kids to school in Eton. The majority of Britains politicians are extremely wealthy and have nothing in common with the normal British citizen. I’ve worked lived and worked their.
Everything that comes out of their politicians mouths are lies. Either that or it’s twister to benefit the elite rich of the UK.
Ireland should do what’s best for Ireland. Get the best deal for Ireland and Irish citizens. Nothing less will do. Our lot is best thrown in with the EU. Look at what the UK did to Northern Ireland. There GDP was more than the republic in 1920! The republic GDP has grown 8 times greater than the north since.
Frans Timmernans, who was in Dublin last week and is one of the more enlightened politicians in continental Europe acknowledges that the UK – Ireland common travel area will remain.
In his opinion…
His informed opinion, in fact can you cite any credible informed opinion that it will not continue?
EUROPHILES ASSEMBLE!!!
why¿
Will this apply to Irish people or do we have a special arrangement……All the Ryanair flights from Eastern Europe will be fully booked for the next month to beat the closing date….
How did you get an upside down question mark?
@Keelan he’s Australian
@Keelan O’neill: He turned his keyboard up side down. ;)
@Keelan O’neill: http://www.wikihow.com/Do-an-Upside-Down-Question-Mark
@Keelan O’neill: In Windows, hold down the Alt key and the + key at the same time. While holding them down,, type 0191. When you release the keys it will appear.
¿
There’s a much easier way…¿¡¿°•○•
The British will learn very quickly that they are a medium sized nation with a below average indigenous industrial base operating in the middle of the global multinational supply chain. Nothing more and nothing less. It’s just a question of how long it takes for the delusion to clear and for the swivel eyed Brexit loons to be hung for treason.
UK is the 5th largest economy on earth – and the 2nd in Europe. Wake up!
@Fred Jensen: I’m assuming that the UK will have measures to attract the people it needs.
It’s not about stopping EVERYONE from being able to move to the UK its about them controlling immigration in a way that works for them.
So if they need doctors for example they can CHOOSE to allow them – to come to the UK.
How do you think the US and Austrailia work – they don’t have freedom of movement buy yet people emigrate there.
And Fred – they’re unconcerned about Irexit, but we can’t type about anything except Brexit!
@Maxwell Eddizon:
It’s actually the 7th Maxwell after the plunge in sterling, and the 10th largest by purhcasing power.
Also the little fact that much of it’s economic production is owned by foreigners, unlike Germany and Japann. It’s basically a bigger Ireland.
Investopia and Wikipedia both quote it as 5th. And they have a lot easier more defence mechanisms than us – and could easily cut their interest rates, currently closed to 0%…
Fred – according to the World Bank it is 5th, with a population significantly smaller than the four above it.
Many wish that, before old Fred posts – he might (even occasionally) confirm his facts….
Will people from the republic be allowed to work and live in the north? I assume we won’t need a visa to drive to donegal?
Depending on the status of the CTA.
@JFN: Take the N15 through Sligo into Donegal. The decision on open borders hasn’t been sorted yet.
@JFN:
More important question is will we continue to see busloads of workers from Northern Ireland bused down Monday to Friday to work in Dublin. What will they do for a living if that stops. All those construction contractors from the North working in Dublin…oh dear…
@JFN: cross border workers are probably going to get shafted because of this
Just how do the brexit supporters think that stopping free movement will improve life for them? They’ve been sold a lot of xenophobic nonsense…
Well if it becomes easier for a qualified Indian proctologist to enter the country than a jobbing French plumber than that would be a good thing. Under the EU it would be the other way round.
@Damocles:
Yes, we all know for certain that the people of Stoke would prefer to see more Pakistanis rather than Polish in their town ;-)
Fred – given the choice of a Pakistani Cardiologist or a fruit picker from Romania, which one do you think the country would opt for? It seems you would want the Romanian fruit picker, because the EU affords them greater status than it does the surgeon, go figure.
@Dave Harris:
The whole “Free Movement” thing is a load a of kack. It’s a charter for economic (social welfare) migrant tourism! It should have been limited to 3 to 6 months for those seeking work. If no full-time employment & accommodation was obtained within that set period then off you go back to your own or another EU country. A period of 12 months should then elapse before you can return , unless of course you managed to obtain a verifiable full-time job & accommodation before you travel.
@Paul Fahey:
Have you seen your local hospital in Ireland or the UK? It seems the Pakistani Cardiologist never had any problem getting into either country.
Fred – you fail to address your own point. It is a fact that the EU gives a higher immigration status to an unskilled EU national than it does to an in demand highly skilled professional from outside of the EU. You support this position.
You also fail to state that are hospitals in Ireland and those in the UK still have a significant shortage of medical professionals.
Please could you also stop posting so many lies and untruths on Brexit threads, it seems many people are getting bored of correcting you in them.
As someone who lived and worked in five European countries before freedom of movement (70s and 80s) I personally don’t remember any issues. You applied for a residency permit and that meant it was a privilege rather than a right. If you abused that privilege they kicked you out. If it all went back to that it wouldn’t bother me. Countries should be free to say who they want or need and recruit them and also those who they don’t want there if they are just a drain on their resources. Supply and demand. Anyway, I would be happy if it all went back to just being the Common Market without the political Union. I can’t remember ever being asked about the latter as a one-off direct question that wasn’t masked in Treaty bear traps.
There is no doubt that the UK is making a mess of things re Brexit.
But the May approach is less crap then the Donald Trump approach where he was stopping people actually ALREADY living in the US returning from trips abroad etc with his travel ban on 7 countries.
Granted that’s been overturned since.
May is talking about people who don’t even live in the UK yet and she’s flagging it up now so people will know.
She’s just flagging a date when the current set up ends. Because let’s be clear – we need a date for when protections end.
None of this alters the fact the brexiteers are making a mess of things and the UK will lose out as a result
You are mixing up your opinions with “no doubt” and “facts”, there are differences and in your case they are not even very subtle.
Common travel agreement between the UK & Ireland has existed since the 70′s I assume this will stay in place .
@Mrs M: they existed since just after independence
Actually it’s existed since the 20s. Both the UK and Ireland would like to see it maintained. Let’s wait and see whether the EU mandarins in Brussels will let it stay.
@Damocles:
The British are imposing a hard border on Ireland.
By your logic whatever laws were made first should be respected. Doesn’t quite work like that, otherwise we’d have medieval laws still enforced. In fact, laws that come later are superior. Hence, EU migration law actually over-rides previous arrangements Ireland had in place from the 1920′s.
Post-Brexit EU laws will have nothing to do with the UK – and only concern us (and the other members states).
Commenced in 1923 and it will still be in place in 2023. It seems very few people actually read the article, which was based in hearsay.
So basically the U.K. Is putting its boarders back up. Sound familiar to what the US wants to do but I missed the news stories regarding the marching in the streets of London and Dublin denouncing this policy . Sounds like it’s ok for Europe but not the US …double standards
Does this affect people from Ireland using Heathrow as a transit hub?
We are all wasting our time going over the whats and ifs, the reality is nobody knows, it will all have to be negotiated and the May stance is her opening hardball position, how it will all play out nobody knows yet. Its not going to be pretty whatever the outcome and some superficial blockage will be put in place to fool the voters, in reality I cant see it happening business relies on foreign workers, and at the root of nearly everything money is the key decider.
At least it will a pleasure to go on holidays to Spain again all the British boot boys and girls will be in the new Sunderland car factories haha!!!
have your say