Pete Wishart
SNP MP FOR PERTH & PERTHSHIRE NORTH Euro residents deserve security
Last week my Ochil and South Perthshire colleague Tasmina Ahmed Sheikh and I co-hosted a public meeting to which all EU nationals in Perth and Kinross were invited.
Outside the large cities Perth and Kinross has about the largest number of EU nationals in Scotland.
Some of the most important sectors of our local economy, such as the soft fruit industry and the hospitality trade, not to mention the NHS and academia, depend to a huge extent on workers who have come from other countries, so it is extremely important that we allow their voices to be heard as the impact of Brexit starts to hit home.
The meeting was packed and we heard some really heartbreaking concerns for the future from those who have chosen to call Perth and Kinross their home.
The UK Government has still not guaranteed the rights of EU nationals to remain in the UK following our departure from the EU, preferring instead to use them - and consequently UK citizens living in the EU - as bargaining chips in their negotiations.
That is totally unsettling and simply not right.
But it doesn’t stop there. Question marks have now been raised over the rights of non-EU citizens in the UK, who currently have the right to remain through EU law.
My colleague Stephen Gethins MP has raised the issue with Brexit Secretary David Davis, who confirmed to him in a letter that the rights of these non-EU nationals was still under consideration.
EU law allows a worker to bring a spouse of children who lack EU citizenship with them to any member state, including the primary care givers of British children or dependent adults who, without that caretaker, would be forced to leave the EU.
These are called Zambrano carer cases and an example would be a Moroccan mother of a French child living in the UK.
However, many of these rights arise from court judgements against the UK Home Office, which has opposed widening the influence of EU law on the country’s migration policy. Remarkably, David Davis has admitted he is not familiar with Zambrano carer cases.
The UK Government must provide some clarity for those non-EU citizens who currently have the right to be here and now face uncertainty. This will have a particular impact on some of the most vulnerable in our society.
With Article 50 now triggered, the UK Government must start providing answers.
The Prime Minister cannot talk about building a fairer and global UK while jeopardising the status and rights of people who have made the UK their home and contribute to society both socially and economically.
I want to stress to all of those from other countries living in my constituency: you are welcome, your contribution is appreciated and valued. The UK’s Brexit need not be Scotland’s Brexit.
That is why I want our nation to choose. We can be dragged out of the EU against our will or we can decide to make our own relationship with the EU. It is a choice Scotland must have.