Keir Starmer must take quick steps to fix the “broken” Home Office settlement scheme for EU citizens who were in the country before Brexit to avoid a repeat of the Windrush scandal, campaigners have said.
The grassroots organisation the3million and 75 other organisations including immigration law firms, civil rights groups and NGOs have written to the prime minister seeking a wholesale review of the Home Office’s implementation of the Brexit withdrawal agreement (WA).
It was supposed to guarantee EU citizens’ rights but has already led to a government defeat in the high court.
Andreea Dumitrache, the communications manager at the3million, said: “If the prime minister is serious about repairing the relationship between the UK and the EU then he has a golden opportunity to do so by taking quick steps to fix the EU settlement scheme. We believe this would be a significant show of goodwill towards the EU, relieving tensions and opening the door towards a better relationship with a close ally.”
Dumitrache is one of the co-signatories of an open letter to Starmer also signed by the London law firms Kingsley Napley and Bindmans, the EU specialist Prof Elspeth Guild of Queen Mary University of London, and NGOs and civil rights groups including Rights of Women, Settled, Roma Support Group, Refugee Action and In Limbo.
Their demands include efforts to clear the 137,000-strong backlog of EU citizens still waiting for a Home Office decision on their status.
They also want the government to abandon the Home Office’s decision to “expire” UK residence cards held by some EU citizens on 31 December.
Signatories also raised a longstanding bugbear, the Home Office’s decision to issue digital-only status of the right to live, work and retire in the UK, saying it had already proven to be “seriously compromised” and not fit for purpose.
They want the government to provide reliable documentation to EU citizens to enable them to prove beyond doubt to employers, landlords and local authorities dealing with social welfare benefits that they have full rights guaranteed under the WA.
Campaigners have long demanded a physical card in addition to the digital system, which requires border officials, employers and councils to log into the Home Office website to verify a digital number issued to any of the 5.7 million EU citizens legally resident in the UK post Brexit.
“Proving their status (and thereby their rights to live, work, travel, study and more in this country) has been taken out of people’s hands by the flawed implementation of digital-only immigration status, locking tens of thousands of people out of their immigration status. It doesn’t have to be this way,” the letter said.
Campaigners have railed against the digital status ever since the Conservatives started pilots in 2018 and now want the government to look at proposals for alternatives.
“We are recommending tangible steps that you can take as a new government to fix the broken immigration system so people can access their rights and justice, find belonging in the UK, and continue to play their part in our economy and society,” the letter said.
Among the other demands is the removal of NHS surcharges for people who applied to the EU settlement scheme late. The group suggest this could be done by secondary legislation.
A Home Office spokesperson said it remained “committed” to supporting EU citizens “while the new home secretary decides on the future of departmental policies”.
