Richard Haviland Profile picture
Jun 9, 2021 24 tweets 6 min read Read on X
In June 2016, just before the EU referendum, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Priti Patel signed a pledge to EU citizens in the UK. It said that, if the UK decided to leave the EU, they would automatically be granted indefinite leave to remain. Here it is. Image
Five years later, not a single aspect of this pledge has been honoured. Nobody has been granted automatic leave to remain. Many, even of those who have been granted settled status, have had to go through pain and humiliation to get it. To be allowed to stay in their own home.
And even those with settled status have been refused any physical proof. Some fear leaving the country in case, on return, they are victims of a systems outage at passport control, with no way of showing they have a right to be entering the country.
Some fear inviting relatives to visit them, in case those relatives are subjected to the sort of hostile treatment at the border that we are already seeing - treatment that is rapidly gaining the UK a reputation as a country where foreigners aren't welcome.
It gets worse. The UK government has set an arbitrary deadline of 30 June - three weeks' time - for those EU nationals who've not yet applied to submit their applications. Yes, THREE WEEKS' time.
As things stand it is inevitable that, unless the Westminster government extends the deadline, a great number of EU nationals who have, through no fault of their own, been unable to apply for settled status, will on 1 July bcome "illegal".
This means they will automatically lose the right to live, work or rent accommodation in the UK. Many will be people who've lived here for years, working and paying taxes. Some will have British spouses. Some will be children. They are our friends and neighbours and colleagues.
Why not apply, you might ask? It's not that simple. Although there have been communications campaigns, it is clear there are many who are still unaware even of the need to apply, let alone the deadline.
In particular, there are a number of vulnerable groups who are in real danger of falling through the cracks, including:

Children in care
Adopted children
Elderly people alone or in care, some with dementia or other conditions
People with limited English or digital skills (cont.)
Long-term residents who believe that their Indefinite Leave to Remain or Permanent Residence status is sufficient;
Those married to UK nationals who assume (wrongly) that this guarantees their right to remain
Although the government has given funds to charities to help people with applications, it's those very people - the vulnerable ones - that the charities have struggled to help face to face during the pandemic. And they now face an enormous backlog. With three weeks to go.
The government has said it will show leniency to people with a valid excuse for delay. But what assurance, after Windrush, and with a dysfunctional Home Office, can that give anyone?
For that matter, the Home Office already has a backlog of 300,000 cases - not all of which will be resolved in time. People who will be left in limbo until they hear back from the Home Office, even if they are eventually granted settled status.
This is an emergency. We have seen the tragedy that has afflicted so many of the Windrush generation, and we have a collective moral duty to ensure the same doesn't happen again with EU nationals living in this country.
So what can we do? Write to our elected representatives, whatever party they are from and whatever body they sit in. Demand that they see the moral imperative. Don't let them fob you off. Hold their feet to the fire.
Tell them this is an impending catastrophe and that it will be a stain on all of us if it happens. If they are Conservative, don't let them tell you about all the people who've succesfully applied. Insist on knowing what they're doing for the people who haven't applied.
Demand an extension to the deadline. Cite Covid. Cite the Home Office backlog. Cite our international reputation. Cite old-fashioned decency and humanity.
Whether or not the deadline is extended, demand to know what your elected representative is doing, personally, to ensure all EU citizens are reached before 30 June. Don't be fobbed off by statistics and jargon.
Demand physical proof for those with settled status. Point out that if the government can provide a printable QR code for those who haven't been vaccinated, they can do it for EU nationals.
Pick three friends. The ones who like to say they're "not political". Show them this thread. Ask them to do their bit.
If you know EU nationals in need of help, refer them to @WeAreSettled @CitizensAdvice @CitAdviceScot @migranthelp @CitzRights or gov.uk/government/pub…
Above all, don't let the government gaslight you. Don't let them tell you it's OK. Don't let them tell you it's acceptable.
It isn't OK. It isn't acceptable. It shames us.

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More from @rfhaviland

Aug 19
I find this @Daily_Record quote from an unnamed Labour Party source amazing not only in its contempt for devolution, but in the brazenness with which it expresses that contempt.

THREAD

dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-…
Image
Yes, of course, under the UK system, Wesminster's elective dictatorships have the legal power to do what they want.

But, if this were driven purely by the need to improve systems, the quote would read something like this:
'Whoever is in power in Westminster and Holyrood, our systems of governance need to work as effectively as possible for the Scottish people, and this legislation seeks to improve that".

Not very convincing maybe but at least - on the face of it - driven by democratic instincts.
Read 11 tweets
Aug 3
Next time English football thugs smash up a Spanish bar, I’d like to ask Matthew Goodwin if it’s because they have legitimate concerns.

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Next time English football thugs get into a running battle with the German police, I’d like to ask Isabel Oakeshott if it’s because they’re not being listened to.
Next time English football thugs trash a Dutch city centre, I’d like to ask Kemi Badenoch if it’s because ordinary people are having cultural Marxism forced on them by the liberal elite.
Read 10 tweets
Jul 3
There's something very unpleasant, on the eve of an election, about saying what Starmer said today on SM/CU, knowing it will distress millions who will nonetheless feel obliged to vote for him.

Passive aggression at the very least.

But more like bullying.

Taunting.

THREAD
In this piece for @BylinesScotland yesterday about the pressing need for electoral reform, I wrote that I was desperate for Starmer to win in the way "I'd be desperate to take a cold bath if the only choice was an acid one".

I stand by that.

bylines.scot/democracy/is-i…
But honestly, I am already so fed up with a party which habitually relies on a system it has no intention of changing while crowing at people who don't like it: "So what are you going to do? Vote Tory?"

You can almost see the thumb in front of the nose.

Puerile.
Read 6 tweets
Jun 7
Much as I idolise Ian, it’s a classic illustration of the mindset of many progressives towards the SNP that in a single tweet he can both acknowledge the damage of Brexit and imply that Westminster bears no responsibility for anything that’s gone wrong in Scotland. THREAD
I often sense the inner conflict when, having acknowledged the positive noises on immigration (the polar opposite of populist) coming from the SNP and Plaid Cymru, they need to remind themselves it’s nasty Nats they’ve been complimenting and say something dismissive too.
None of this is to exonerate the SNP. Of course they will always blame someone else and fail to acknowledge their own shortcomings. As will the Labour government in Wales. As will Labour shadow ministers in London. As will any political party anywhere.
Read 25 tweets
May 3
When, like me, you've been an unquestioning Unionist for most of your life and then started to have severe doubts in the post-Brexit years, you begin to see things you didn't see before. It's hard to overstate the (negative) subliminal effect of this imagery. THREAD
You may not be 100% sold on the case of independence, you may indeed have doubts about it on multiple levels. But you understand the aspiration, because the very people who should be trying to make you "believe in Britain" all too often end up pushing you away again.
It's not that such imagery is representative of the views of most Unionists - God help us if that were the case. But it's certainly indicative of the mindset of far too many people - in government, in the media and elsewhere - who hold the levers of power in the UK.
Read 10 tweets
Apr 21
Given Labour's description of a youth mobility scheme with the EU as "synonymous with free movement", I've made a list of 25 other things that might come into that category so we can avoid wasting their time and let them get on with the business of serious opposition (thread):
1) Playing that video of Blair facing down Farage
2) Quoting pre-2020 Starmer
Read 25 tweets

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