Campaign groups slam PMs agreement and letter to expats

As the Old Year staggers to its close and Brexit creeps even closer, what’s the reality for Remainer Brit expats desperate to stay where they are and others who’re chancing leaving the UK while they still can?

Whilst Brexit supporters all over the UK were celebrating what they saw as the first positive result in the negotiations, leaders of the campaign groups representing UK expats in Europe were busy concentrating on what wasn’t in the agreement made by Theresa May in order to move on to the second stage of the talks. A letter sent to UK nationals in Europe by the PM didn’t help matters at all, as it failed to mention human rights issues which hadn’t been agreed and which are essential to the majority of Brit expats.

Once keen-eyed campaigners noticed the letter was simply a cut-and-paste job from May’s communication sent to EU expats in the UK a week earlier, any hope of Christmas cheer disappeared in the general direction of the back boiler, never to return. It seems the much-vaunted ‘agreement’ simply covers UK retirees as regards residence, social security rights and, very broadly with no actual details, healthcare.

Picking apart the jargon, expats with full rights prior to Brexit will only have ‘settled status’ and be subject to an application process including criminal background checks and endless paperwork. Most importantly, no reassurance was given on free movement, either to those whose cross-border travel is essential to their businesses or to would-be UK expat entrepreneurs who’re now planning to leave the UK for Europe before the axe falls and economic chaos sets in.

Those needing cross-border service provision and free movement in order to stay in business, along with those who’re worried their professional qualifications won’t be recognised post-Brexit, have nowhere to hang their hats and are more worried about their futures than before the so-called agreement ended phase one of the negotiations. In plain words, the one window in time which should have guaranteed full rights to UK expats was slammed in their faces simply because May was focused on cutting the rights of EU citizens in Britain.

British citizens planning to relocate in a hurry and start up new businesses in Europe need to look carefully at the small print before they make their final decision, and those with established European businesses to whom free movement is essential should be looking for a way out. No help, it seems, is likely to be forthcoming from the British lawmakers heading up the final phase of negotiations.