Millions of Britons made use of these freedoms over the decades. British citizens and their families living and working in another EU country had the right to access that country's state healthcare and education. Free movement also meant that citizens from the rest of the EU could easily come to the UK to fill job vacancies that we simply didn’t, and still don’t, have enough Britons to do.
Free movement was never broken, and it didn’t need fixing.
▪ 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀, EU citizens couldn’t just arrive in another EU country and claim benefits – they had to have sufficient funds of their own to travel and to stay.
▪ 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀, EU citizens could be rejected or ejected if they were considered to pose certain risks to the country.
▪ 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀, EU citizens could enjoy the right to stay in another EU country for up to three months only, so long as they didn’t become a burden to the state.
▪ 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀, EU citizens could only legally stay longer in another EU country if they were jobseekers; workers; self-employed; students; self-sufficient; permanent residents (i.e. legally here for more than five years); or family members of one of the above.
What a brilliant system, that served our country well – either for citizens coming here, or our citizens going there. Now that all ended for the UK, because British governments (Tory AND Labour) interpreted the referendum Brexit vote as meaning the end of ‘free movement’. Even though, just as for non-EU countries Norway and Switzerland, we could have kept free movement without having to be an EU member. And even though voters were never specifically asked if we wanted to end free movement with our continent. Our governments just assumed we did. But consistently, polls show that Britain would prefer to retain our freedom of movement with our continent.
[Source: Best for Britain]
Our current government, under Keir Starmer, has categorically ruled out bringing back free movement of people. In April, both Labour and the Tories immediately rejected an EU offer of a post-Brexit deal to allow young Britons the right to live, study or work anywhere in the EU for up to four years.
[Source: The Guardian]
Isn’t it time our governments stopped unilaterally interpreting the referendum result and instead let us, the people, decide?
© Report and video compilation by @JonDanzig Video programme provided by the @europeanparliament ▪ 𝗝𝗼𝗻 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝘇𝗶𝗴 is an independent campaigning journalist and film maker who specialises in writing about health, human rights, and Europe. He is also founder of the information campaign, Reasons2Rejoin
