Give 50,000 EU health workers British passports to save NHS
SUNDAY MIRROR
THE NHS risks collapse unless all 50,000 EU health workers are given British passports, Theresa May will be warned this week.
Figures to be released on Thursday are expected to show a huge hike in EU workers applying for citizenship after the PM refused to rule out expelling people without it. But it is feared many doctors and nurses will leave rather than face uncertainty. Think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research will publish its solution to coincide with the figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Report author Chris Murray said: “If even half of EU NHS workers go, there will be a public health emergency. Doctors and nurses have skills marketable worldwide.”
One in 10 NHS doctors is from another EU country. Under the IPPR scheme, they, and other health workers, would be offered citizenship. Its report will say: “Acquiring British nationality is tougher than ever. Reform is urgently needed.”
Mrs May will not guarantee the rights of the three million EU citizens in the UK until Brussels rules on Brits living in Europe. IT looks like Mr Selfridge heartthrob Jeremy Piven is off the shelf again after falling for an athletic Welsh model 24 years his junior.
The actor, 51, has loved then lost a string of beautiful women – including one who slammed him as “creepy”.
But he appears to have found romance with Danielle Page, 27, after meeting her at a Los Angeles party. They’ve been close ever since, despite Dani working away in Hong Kong while Jeremy is based in Miami.
She shares his love of yoga so they’ve been working out together, as well as going to posh parties.
A pal said: “When they met he was flirting straight away. He kept asking her to go running or do yoga.
“It heated up pretty quickly. She likes him – but it’s early days.”