If Theresa May Wants To Became Our Next Prime Minister, Should She Now Guarantee The Status Of Eu Citizens Living In The Uk After Brexit?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tories-divided-over-guarantee-that-eu-citizens-will-not-be-deported-andrea-leadsom-theresa-may-7119676.html

[retrocop]

Mr Hugh Grant has a lot to answer for. I never realised that being a wobbly lipped fop would become a trend in the UK. People are becoming too European.Poltroons!!!

[Ellipsis]

> Ignoring the fact that she is not the Prime Minister, in effect all she is saying is “wait to see how the land lies”. That’s wise.

I know she is not the Prime Minister, she is setting out her stall for being the Prime Minister. And this is not wise, for the reasons I gave earlier. It sends the wrong message to the migrants we have here (many of whom are propping up the NHS, who have their own mess), it sends the wrong message to the Europeans we have to negotiate with when we finally get around to triggering Article 50, it sends the wrong message to the world that we're the kind of people who would trade with other people's lives and it sends the wrong message to our own British population, that migrants are to be treated shabbily.

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http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/686615/Brexit-Nigel-Farage-Theresa-May-EU-bargaining-chip-migrants-UK-Britain

NIGEL Farage has condemned Theresa May’s plans to use the fate of EU citizens living in the UK as a “bargaining chip”.

Mr Farage reveals he is 'disgusted at the way May has been speaking'
The outgoing Ukip leader, who is stepping down after fulfilling his political dream of freeing Britain from the European Union, described the Home Secretary’s suggestion as “disgusting”.

Mrs May has said that the future of EU migrants already in the UK would form part of her Brexit negotiations.

Mr Farage has always made it clear he believes EU citizens living and working in Britain should be allowed to stay unless they are criminals.

During the referendum all Leave campaign groups insisted deportations should not happen.

Mr Farage said: “I am disgusted at the way May has been speaking. The EU nationals living in the UK came here legally.”
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Exactly as I see it.

To return strictly to the OP, I believe the answer is "Yes" and, if she doesn't, I hope she loses.

[naomi24]

Ellipsis, you talk about it sending the wrong message to people working in the NHS but if you, and they, really thought about that, it’s clearly nonsense. Why would we send people who, as you put it, are ‘propping up the NHS’, back to where they came from? That would be detrimental. It hasn’t sent the wrong message to me. This panic is irrational and unjustified. It won’t happen.

[jim360]

If it won't happen, shouldn't she therefore say so?

[Ellipsis]

Exactly Jim. She just has to make a commitment, like the other candidates.

[naomi24]

Jim, //If it won't happen, shouldn't she therefore say so?//

No – not until other member states make their intentions clear.

[jim360]

So that does amount, then, to hanging massive uncertainty over law-abiding people's future lives as a cynical bargaining chip.

[naomi24]

Jim, does that not apply to all the other countries too?

[Ellipsis]

No other countries have voted to leave the EU and we have not triggered Article 50. Therefore other countries have no statement to make. May is setting out her stall for Prime Minister, not negotiating with other countries.

Naomi, why do you think Farage has adopted the position that he has - calling May's position "disgusting"?

[naomi24]

Ellipsis, //No other countries have voted to leave the EU//

No, they haven’t (yet). Nevertheless, they will all be involved in discussing ‘terms’ of our exit, and the subject of ex-pats living abroad (wherever they come from and wherever they currently reside) will form part of that agenda, along with freedom of movement. Therefore, at the moment a prudent approach is wise. It is early days.

I have no idea why Mr Farage said what he said – if, indeed, he said it.

[Ellipsis]

He's been saying it for years Naomi. He's been very consistent on this point. Video here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30118855

[naomi24]

Ellipsis, I still have no idea why he said it. It's not his decision.

[jim360]

I guess because Nigel Farage thinks that the EU as an institution is broken, but doesn't want to have anything against the people in it, whose freedoms should be protected -- and guaranteed in light of that.

As ellipsis says, it's not up to the EU to guarantee anything really, since as long as the UK doesn't trigger Article 50 we are still a member and still subject to the rules (and there's still not actually a cast-iron guarantee that this will happen, although it's clearly almost certain to). But anyway, they have set out their position as far as possible: no change to freedom of movement rules if the UK wishes to remain part of the single market. This extends to people already there, so the EU has "guaranteed", as far as it is able, that all current freedoms will be preserved.

Of course, the UK may wish to challenge this, but until we set out our position the EU can't respond to it further than it already has.

[Jackdaw33]

All depends on who the runner-up is tomorrow. If it's Gove then May has a good chance but if it's Leadsom she has a fight on her hands.

[naomi24]

Jim, we know all that and I don’t think any sensible person would want Europeans living here sent back – or British ex-pats abroad sent home. The point is we are less than two weeks on from the result of the referendum, discussions haven’t begun, and all of this, together with frights about business, the economy, blah, blah, blah, is whipped up hysteria. Wait and see.

[Garaman]

//The point is//

Well, the point to me is reassuring these people that they are secure. That and not adding to the other frights that Naomi rightly mentions.

[naomi24]

... and of course that must be expected to work all ways.