Five years on ….

Five years on from that referendum and Vote Leave’s broken promises, it is the people who didn’t have a vote who are the most affected. We have upped our campaign to find EU nationals who have not yet applied or are having difficulty with Settled Status. In the past eighteen months Izzy & Radley have written letters to EU/EEA/Swiss national’s across Hall Green constituency informing them of the deadline to apply on 30th June, asking them to spread the word and offering assistance with applications.

Recently they contacted the Business Improvement Districts across Birmingham asking them to advertise the scheme, especially to the hospitality industry. Mike Olley of Westside BID responded by offering to contact every EU national employed in his BID area. His efforts and blog post were reported by Birmingham Live here

Several people have replied to the letters, one of whom was Gabriella Muller of Kings Heath. She agreed to be interviewed by Birmingham Live to help appeal to other EU nationals across Birmingham.
Gabriella said in her interview: “Izzy had sent me a letter six month ago and I thought I would keep it.”But even then I still didn’t fully appreciate what I had to do and it was only when my friend went to the embassy that I realised I really did have to apply – and before June 30.”I thought ‘That can’t be right. I live here. I’ve got my house here. My kids are here. My grandchildren are here!’
You can read the full interview here

We believe it suits the Conservative government to disenfranchise sections of the population and the local Labour administration talk but don’t act. Liberal Democrats consistently stand up for EU citizens rights and will continue to do so as long as it takes. We support the campaigns of The Three Million for a physical proof of status, and for unilateral rights to vote and the campaign of the European Movement on citizens rights

Just one person falling victim to a future Windrush type scandal is a failure of the whole scheme and betrayal of the millions of people who have made their home here and to whom the Leave campaign promised would retain ‘the exact same benefits’.