You may have seen that the House of Lords approved amendments to the EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill by a majority of 102. This will oblige the House of Commons to think again whether this country should guarantee the continuing rights of EU citizens already resident here.
I would have voted for the amendment had I been able to reach the Chamber in time.
As much a I think EU citizens need their status clarified swiftly (albeit no more than UK national in the EU) the vote smacked more (especially to those who listened to the debate) as virtue signalling.
Is it fact that more British citizens have been emigrating to other countries and/or travelling abroad than the number of foreigners immigrating and/or visiting ?
While I think that EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens elsewhere in Europe should have the right to remain where they are with their current rights and privileges, I think it is wrong to try to tie the government’s hands when it comes to negotiating. It should be a one-liner, that both sides agree on this, move on to the next item, but given the nature of some of the threats coming from EU politicians, it’s unwise to make it a requirement on the British side.
I suspect EU industry leaders will want people to remain where they are – there’s a lot of chaos waiting if several million people need to move and employers need to replace that many staff over a short timescale.
I think it important that the British people have access to what is going on in the EU that they are presently unaware of. Those who continue to argue for us to ‘remain’ are very afraid of letting us know what is taking place there as I write.
I have not heard a word of this change to EU expansion on our news or in our newspapers.
http://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/
Read all about itl.