The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
‘Disgrace’ of EU workers left in doubt over future
More than 10,000 applicants in Fife and Tayside, including frontline health staff
Politicians have attacked the “disgraceful” uncertainty hanging over thousands of EU nationals in Tayside and Fife who still do not know if they will be allowed to stay in the UK.
Amid calls for EU citizens to be given the automatic right to remain in the country in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, The Courier can reveal that more than 10,000 people in Tayside and Fife have not been granted permanent settled status to remain in the UK.
Out of the 9,130 EU nationals across Fife who have applied for permanent residency, more than a third – 3,890 – are either still waiting for a final decision to be made or have only been given temporary pre-settled status, meaning they will have to reapply within five years or be forced to leave the country.
More than half of the 5,580 applicants in Dundee – 2,600 people – fall into the same category, as do 2,530 of the 5,980 applicants in Perth and Kinross.
Some 990 EU nationals in Angus, out of the 2,770 who applied for settled status in the region, are facing similar uncertainty.
North East Fife Liberal Democrat MP Wendy Chamberlain said now is not the time to fail to guarantee the rights of EU citizens to live and work in the UK.
She said: “With the uncertainty of Brexit, it’s disgraceful to leave them in legal limbo like this.
“Families and children must not be made to live under a cloud of uncertainty any longer.”
Although the Home Office has announced one-year visa extensions for certain health and care staff, the Lib Dems have secured cross-party support for their campaign to give all frontline health and social care workers the indefinite leave to remain.
Ms Chamberlain said: “Granting indefinite leave to remain is the least we could do for EU citizens who have chosen to build their lives and families here.
“They have made an amazing contribution to our culture, our economy and our public services, during these unprecedented circumstances, many of them risking their lives in front line key worker positions.”
Lib Dem home affairs spokesperson Christine Jardine urged the UK Government to “show its own support for the people’s heroes by extending the right to remain to all EU and foreign nationals, many of whom are fighting for our lives”.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: “The government is protecting the rights of EU citizens resident in the UK.
“By applying to the EU settlement scheme, EU citizens living in the UK will be able to work, study and access benefits and services in the UK on at least the same basis as they do now.”