France could sue the UK if too much sewerage is discharged into our waters and subsequently causes environmental damage in French waters. The government seems to forget that we live on the same planet. They bat on the side of whoever will keep them in office, and millions of readers obtain their ‘source of truth’ from tabloids like the Sun, Telegraph and Daily Mail without the power or knowledge to question these headlines. Many readers despise foreigners who come here to sponge, commit crime and provide nothing to the UK. Rhetoric instils a sense of disgust and hatred.
Family unity
The desire to take back control and grab yet more headlines has prompted calls for Britain to leave the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). An important prescription of the human rights act is family unity. We have the right to be with our families. We live on the same planet, we love on the same planet. We cannot control who we fall in love with, just as we cannot control the flow of waters between England and the French coast, which have now channelled sewerage towards one of our closest neighbours.
In recent weeks, the government’s track record of failure reached new lows. The implications of new policies shoot the British in the foot, just as Brexit itself has caused a catalogue of suffering, The whole narrative of taking back control and keeping the foreigners out of the UK is now applied to the spouses and families of British citizens. The government has raised the minimum income requirement (MIR) to allow a family member to join a British citizen in the UK.
This policy is grossly unfair and demonstrates a total disregard for the distress caused to families which are being torn apart or may face that in future. The UK government proposed to raise the MIR to sponsor a non-UK family member to move to the UK from £18,600 a year to £38,700 a year, a figure which is twice the national minimum wage. Government forgets the spouse of a British citizen might seek work as well to supplement the family income once they have moved. They also forget that a British citizen may seek to return here to take on a role as a social care provider for a family member, which would be unpaid apart from a carer’s allowance.
Yet all along more money is being wasted by the government on headline grabbing an-migrant policies. The Rwanda plan will cost the UK around £1.8mn per asylum seeker.
The truth behind the sound bites
As an EU member, Britain would have been able to use the Dublin Convention (Common European Asylum System) which sends refugees back to their point of entry into the EU, which is often Greece, Hungary or Italy. Knowing the UK can no longer use this treaty has made our shores a much more attractive target for people smugglers. Nigel Farage and his friends keep this fact very quiet, but it is incomprehensible why the leader of the Labour party, himself a qualified barrister with expertise in law, does not shout it from the rooftops. EU membership fees bought us some protections, not only from the treaties but law enforcement agencies like Europol, who take special interest in crimes like human trafficking and terrorism, as well as mutual access to a huge labour market.
The threat to family unity
British in Europe wrote to the Home Office about the secondary legislation implementing the MIR changes. The proposed MIR will make it almost impossible for many British citizens living overseas with non-British family members to ever return to live in the UK with non-UK family members. British in Europe estimated only 40% of British citizens with non-British family members can meet the current requirement.
Letters sent to the Home Office in December 2023 resulted in a government reply in January 2024 that simply restated the policy without answers to key points. The group has requested answers to the following, which we quote from their website:
- Why British citizens and their families or those settled in the UK should be treated the same as non-British skilled workers.
- How the policy can be justified when it affects our rights as British citizens to return to the UK and yet there was no prior consultation of the British diaspora and the policy was introduced before we got our votes back.
- Why our partners are treated as dependents and their earning potential is not taken into account by the policy.
- Why exceptions are made for some categories of British citizens e.g. in the armed services and not for e.g. British teachers, doctors, nurses etc.
- Why the policy does not take into account the different position of self-employed people.
In particular, they have questioned the Home Secretary’s recent arguments that the changes would ensure a fairer system for the British people when the policy would not be workable for British people in Europe.
Democracy: who should have control?
A democratic body, voted in by people who have full, unbiased information at their fingertips.
It comes as no surprise that our government would love to leave the ECHR so it can have freedom to implement all manner of policies.
The foundations of the EHCR were laid by Churchill and joined by European partners, a generation who experienced the horrors of racism, hatred, the destruction of families first hand and who fought against it.
The current government in their course of actions has denigrated the memory of British people who gave their lives and substantial parts of their youth to fight against these racist evils.
Clean the air, the waters and the environment
Climate protection has now been made a human right via a case in Switzerland. The court ruling means nearly 50 governments must now contend with a new era of climate litigation.
The ruling has been celebrated by former Green MEP, professor of economics, and vice-chair of European Movement, Molly Scott Cato, who wrote:
“\It’s what the European ideal is all about – tackling challenges like climate change together, collectively improving the lives of citizens across the continent, evolving what it means to uphold our rights and shared values.”
It is no surprise this ruling has irritated Sunak and Brexiter MPs who called out the ruling as illegitimate.
The ECHR would offer British in Europe some support if they wished to challenge new MIR requirements. This group was disenfranchised, left without a voice in the referendum and elections. Campaigns reversed that and Britons overseas are now able to vote in UK elections. Our government should remember that when they create policies which will split up families and cause nothing but distress.
Labour MPs are on the case. Paul Blomfield has put forward a Backbench Debate on the Increase to the MIR on Tuesday 23 April. British in Europe has also added a template letter for anyone who would like to write to their MP.
Left out in the cold exclusion zone
Family members who fall under the withdrawal agreement have some rights in their host countries in Europe. None such for the partners of family members of British citizens who are related to Britons in Europe. Imagine this scenario. I know of one such case in my own social network. A family friend has a close relative in Europe with a health condition which requires care. My friend would qualify for family re-unification, but it would not apply to her partner. It is impossible to choose between her life partner and close family in Europe. Frequent visits to Europe are the only option. This makes people feel very distressed and torn. The situation will continue for these families and many more until a sensible government takes office in the UK and reverses the damage done by our departure from the single market’s mobility frameworks.
Brexit and right wing dialogues have done Britain a huge disservice and show without a doubt that it is crucial to keep our membership of the ECHR.
