Brexit is approaching, and while waiting to understand if it will be really "hard" (as it would seem with the new prime minister Boris Johnson), hard times could come for European travelers to the United Kingdom as well. British Home Secretary Priti Patel indeed intends to impose one immediate stop to the free movement of EU citizens as early as 31 October, if there is no agreement with Brussels. Several British newspapers reported it.
According to the newspapers, Patel would implement the provision as 'secondary legislation', ie an act that does not need parliamentary passage. According to the Telegraph, British officials have meanwhile traveled to Singapore "to understand how an efficient IT system applied to immigration works". The criticisms of the Liberal Democrats were immediate: the spokesman for internal affairs Ed Davey branded the idea as “completely far from reality, a new chapter in the endless saga of the disaster they are making with Brexit. What would European citizens who live in the UK, perhaps having gone on a trip, do when they try to return?”.
Criticisms also from the 3Million Campaign group, which defends the rights of EU citizens in the UK: “There is no ready system. It is a political move, but it will have a major impact on people's lives. It will open the door to discrimination: what distinction will they make between those who are already here and those who will arrive later?”.
A spokesperson for Downing Street also intervened on the matter, underlining how “the current freedom of movement will end on 31 October, when the United Kingdom will leave the EU. For example, we will immediately introduce much stricter crime rules for those entering the Kingdom. Other details are being finalized. The prime minister was clear, we want an immigration points system similar to Australia's."
