The Guardian Weekly

This, finally, is what ‘take back control’ means

- Alan Travis

At last. A leaked Home Office document passed to the Guardian fills the hole in the middle of Brexit. The 82-page paper sets out for the first time how Britain intends to approach the politicall­y charged issue of immigratio­n, dramatical­ly refocusing policy to put British workers first.

It is the first official account of how Theresa May’s government plans to redeem the referendum promise to end free movement and “take back control” of EU immigratio­n. Delivering on this is likely to make or break the Tories’ fortunes at the next election.

At the heart of the plan is May’s ambition to break the link between temporary migration from EU states and the right to settle in Britain. The document states its aim clearly: to end free movement “in its current form”. It proposes that after Brexit day all new EU migrant workers, unless they are highly skilled, will lose their rights to live permanentl­y in Britain. At a stroke they will be turned into temporary workers with a maximum two-year permit.

When the time comes to renew that permit, the rules will have changed. A new UK immigratio­n policy for EU migrants will have kicked in. That may, it is suggested, include numerical caps on those in lower-skilled jobs. For some occupation­s deemed free of labour shortages, the door may be closed completely.

Restrictio­ns will be imposed on the family members a post-Brexit EU migrant can bring with them. At present, a Briton married to a non-EU national cannot bring their spouse to the UK unless they earn £18,600 (around $24,500). For the first time this will apply to EU citizens, too.

The Home Office wants to go

further. Repealing the jurisdicti­on of the European court of justice means the UK can also restrict the rights of extended family to live in Britain to children and adult dependants. The document also proposes to keep light-touch border checks for EU nationals rather than impose a pre-entry visa system. That is probably vital if Britain’s airports and ports are not to grind to a halt. Instead, all new EU migrants will be required to register after three or six months for a biometric residence permit for which fingerprin­ts may be required. That smacks of a solution

that a government department at the forefront of developing a “database state” was always likely to favour. The document even hints that EU nationals may not be able to access public services and benefits without their residence permit.

One irony of this creation of a temporary migrant labour force, a system of residents’ permits or ID cards for foreigners and internal checks to police them, is that they are a familiar path trodden by many EU countries. It may be the case that the further we go down the Brexit path, the more European we become.

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