‘EU Settlement Scheme failing to provide certainty for residents’ – Newry MLA

Newry and Armagh SDLP MLA Justin McNulty has said the latest outcome figures for the EU Settlement Scheme are failing to provide certainty for Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon residents, with nearly 40% of concluded applicants required to reapply within five years.

Speaking about the figures, the SDLP MLA said, “Nearly 35% of concluded applications across the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Council area for the EU settlement scheme have been assigned a pre-settled status, creating further ambiguity for more than 3,000 people living in the city.

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“Families have been dehumanised by a process that has left them without any certainty about whether they can continue to build their lives here and contribute to their local communities.

“Successive British Governments have cultivated the narrow nativist sentiment that EU citizens are not welcome here following Brexit.

“People from this island have spent centuries integrating and contributing to communities across the world; we are all too familiar with the burden of identity-based discrimination.

“We have opposed any diminution of EU citizens’ rights, at Westminster, in the Assembly and in Councils.

McNulty added, “With this further uncertainty, all parties should resist the narrow Tory plans for restrictive immigration rules.”

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Posted by NewryTimes News on Mar 2 2020. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry