British people living and working in the EU say they feel like the “forgotten victims” of Brexit who are being used as “hostages” by both sides in the negotiations.
Representatives of four campaign groups representing the estimated 1.2 million Britons who are settled in other EU countries called on Theresa May to deliver on her promise that they could continue to live as they had done before.
They told MPs that rights were being lost because of Brexit and the government could easily do something about it.
“I think we are being used as a hostage of both sides and we aren’t getting much support from MPs, we are getting more support from the EU,” Michael Harris, the chair of EuroCitizens Spain, told the Brexit select committee at the Commons on Wednesday. “We feel forgotten, there is a lot of frustration and anger. We really do feel victims.”
One of the prime concerns among Britons in Europe is that they will lose their freedom of movement, and become landlocked in their adopted country unable to move to another EU country for work or social purposes.
Fiona Godfrey, chair of British Immigrants Living in Luxembourg, said people like herself needed to be able to cross borders for work or for healthcare, which was often delivered in neighbouring countries such as Belgium or France.
The Conservative MP John Whittingdale questioned why they should have freedom of movement post-Brexit when Britons living in Britain would not. He was told it was because the 1.2 million invoked European rights in moving to another EU country while Britons at home did not.
Jane Golding, chair of the umbrella campaign group British in Europe, told MPs that the government could easily solve the situation by asking the EU to put the issue back on the table.
“The intelligence we are getting is that the issue of continuing freedom of movement has not been put officially on the table since December and there was surprise about that. Until it’s put on the table there will be no response. We’ve been told by our contacts, this is not actually a red line, it is winnable,” she said.
Richard Graham, the Tory MP for Gloucester, supported her arguments. “That is very clearly got to be a negotiating objective. That is absolutely a crucial outcome for all of you living in Europe,” he said.
Earlier, MPs heard from groups representing EU citizens in Britain. The citizens told MPs their biggest fear was a no deal that would render 3.5 million people illegal immigrants overnight.
Barbara Drozdowicz, who runs the East European Resource Centre, a charity dealing with vulnerable eastern Europeans, said the Home Office “had not a chance in hell” of launching its “settled status” scheme for EU citizens in the autumn because there was so much work to be done on raising levels of awareness.
