UK renews pledge on expat rights
The UK government renewed promises to prioritise the rights of Britons abroad in the Brexit negotiations and said it understands how important healthcare rights are to them.
Today the UK government renewed promises to prioritise the rights of Britons living abroad in the negotiations which will begin if article 50 is triggered, the formal start of the Brexit process. It also said it understands how important it is to them to maintain their healthcare rights.
In a ‘white paper’ on The United Kingdom’s exit from and new partnership with the European Union, the government says: “We want to secure the status of EU citizens who are already living in the UK, and that of UK nationals in other member states, as early as we can”.
As part of its plans for a “smooth and orderly exit”, it says it has been consulting with expat groups to understand the priorities of Britons abroad and will continue to do so, acknowledging: “For example, we recognise the priority placed on easy access to healthcare by UK nationals living in the EU.”
The government would have liked to resolve the expat rights issue before the formal talks, but this had not proved possible, the paper says, but the government wishes to “reach a reciprocal deal with our European partners at the earliest opportunity”.
However the paper, which builds on the Prime Minister’s recent speech, gives no guarantees on issues which are entirely in the UK government’s control, including that the UK will continue to pay for British pensioners’ healthcare in EU countries, uprate their state pensions annually and continue to pay their ‘exportable’ disability benefits.
The paper also reiterates comments from the speech that the UK will in future want to “control the numbers of people who come here from the EU”, but will welcome “the brightest and the best” who have “skills and expertise to make our nation better still”.
If the EU reciprocates, while it may be hoped that rights of those already living in France will be protected, it could become harder for Britons to move to France.
The white paper came – unusually – after yesterday’s vote on the Brexit Bill, rather than before so as to inform debate, however the bill has yet to make its way through the House of Lords and then back to the Commons for further debate next week.
