Ex-Brexit Official Calls for UK-EU Rejoining Discussions

Concerns were raised at the European parliament on Thursday over EU citizens in the UK and British citizens in Europe post Brexit. MEPs heard about worries over the rights of children born to EU citizens in the UK but who did not know they had to apply for settled status.

Michal Meduna, a senior official in the European Commission’s post-withdrawal agreement unit, said the UK approach has significant consequences for newborn children, resulting in very high healthcare charges.

The Home Office ended funding for charities assisting vulnerable EU citizens making late applications for settlement. Settled, one of the charities, will say in a report published next week that it is seeing hundreds of requests for advice every week. The UK government spent £32m since 2019 to help charities.

Aliza Dee, the deputy head of justice and home affairs at the EU relations secretariat in the Cabinet Office, told the parliament that now that fewer applications are being made and with fewer organisations operating in that space, now is the right moment to bring an end to that particular tranche of funding.

She stated that alternative forms of support do exist in the UK, for example, the settlement scheme resolution centre. 2 million British people living in the EU in 27 countries.

British in Europe told the parliament it had no funding from the UK. Fiona Godfrey and Jane Golding, principals of British in Europe, are now working on an unpaid basis. Fiona Godfrey and Jane Golding said they would call on the British government to fund the work that is needed to be done for the support of British citizens living in the EU, because that has not been forthcoming.

The Guardian reported on these developments from the European parliament hearing, which the Home Office attended. Anti-Brexit protesters gathered outside the Houses of Parliament in April, as captured in photographs, amid ongoing debates over the UK's relationship with Europe.