Brexit free-movement cutoff plans worse than Windrush, says Abbott
Ending the free movement of people with a no-deal Brexit on 31 October would cause chaos and confusion for EU citizens on a scale that would make the Windrush scandal look like a minor blip, Diane Abbott has said.The shadow home secretary said Boris Johnson’s policies were taking the country “towards a catastrophe” as 2 million EU citizens resident in Britain had not yet registered for settled status, having been told the deadline was December 2020.
Reacting to plans by the home secretary, Priti Patel, to impose new border restrictions overnight on 31 October if Britain leaves the EU without a deal, Abbott told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday that EU citizens who had not registered would be “in the exact same situation as the Windrush people”.
The abrupt policy was “typical of everything that Boris [Johnson] is doing on Brexit” which would mean the UK “heading for a catastrophe that would make Windrush seem like a minor blip”.
She said there was no possibility of the EU citizens registering in time for 31 October and the lack of certainty around how they would be treated would “create chaos”.
The Windrush scandal, which forced Amber Rudd to resign as home secretary, exposed how the government was wrongly deporting people who could not prove their immigration status, having come to the UK from the Caribbean as children in the 1950s and 60s.
Abbott said there would be EU citizens who came to the UK legally but lacked the paperwork to show they had been living here for some time.
The3million, which represents EU nationals in the UK, said Patel’s plans werereckless.
Nicolas Hatton, a co-founder of the group, said: “Ending freedom of movement without putting legal provisions in place for those EU citizens who have not yet successfully applied through the settlement scheme will mean that millions of lawful citizens will have their legal status removed overnight.”
There is particular concern about the absence of clear information about what kind of documents people might need to take with them if they were to travel abroad and return after 31 October.
A leaked internal government discussion paper warned that introducing a sharp cutoff date could present “legitimate concerns of another Windrush”.
The Home Office urged EU nationals to apply for settled status to avoid potential difficulties. Officials said no one eligible for the status would be barred from re-entering the UK if and when free movement ended, but it was not clear how checks would be made.
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