Dear fellow EU citizen,
A very warm thank you to you.
Last night, we hit the £65K target for our crowdfunder for the #DeniedMyVote legal challenge, meaning we are in a position to instruct our lawyers to issue the judicial review claim.
#DeniedMyVote was unlawful and the responsibility clearly lies with the Government in preventing hundreds of thousands of EU citizens from voting in the last election and we won’t let them get away with it.
Detailed updates are posted on the CrowdJustice page, including a new target to cover the estimated cost of the full hearing once permission is granted, so make sure you add your name to the legal challenge if you haven't done so yet.
Talking of the Government, there is another Prime Minister at No.10, yet it's the same old story of disappointment and lack of clear direction towards a solution to fully protect our existing citizens' rights.
Back in June 2016, the leading leave campaigners Boris Johnson, Priti Patel and Michael Gove declared that 'there will be no change for EU citizens already lawfully resident in the UK. These EU citizens will automatically be granted Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK and will be treated no less favourably than they are at present."
Now in power, we expected Boris Johnson to honour his promise and break away from the negative strategy of using EU citizens in the UK and Brits in Europe as bargaining chips in the Brexit negotiations. We were even encouraged by our friend Alberto Costa MP who met the newly appointed Prime Minister on Thursday morning and seemed convinced to have secured his support for laying primary legislation to secure our rights in case of no-deal.
Unfortunately, nothing really happened. Boris must have found one of Theresa May's old speeches from 2016 and merely said he would guarantee our rights, no need to legislate, and once again didn't even mention our British friends in Europe.
Another damp squib on citizens' rights by another Prime Minister and very sadly, we are still the bargaining chips of the Brexit negotiations.
Which is why the3million and British in Europe continue to pile the pressure on politicians on all sides of the Channel and went to Brussel twice in the last seven days.
On the 19th July, a British cross-party delegation of MPs and Lords led by Alberto Costa met with the EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels.
The focus of the meeting was on ring-fencing citizens’ rights under the Article 50 procedure. Both the3million and British in Europe were invited to speak on behalf of those citizens and Dimitri Scarlato represented the3million.
Barnier acknowledged the reasons why both we and British in Europe believe that ringfencing is the best solution for the citizens, noted the uncertainty we are living in and welcomed all the contributions from the delegation. He made us aware though that the EU still believes in the deal and that they were waiting to meet the new British PM to restart the negotiations, and take it from there.
Dimitri and Monique Hawkins also had two intense days of meetings this week in Brussels at the European Parliament and at the European Commission with the No Deal task force. They met with delegations of British MEPs across different parties including Labour, Lib Dem and Green.
They also had meetings with the key figures of the European Parliament Brexit Steering Group and the main parliamentary groups. They have left no stone unturned, advocating for ring-fencing and explaining that if there is no deal, the best set of comprehensive rights in the Withdrawal Agreement will be lost in 28 individual legislations. They made legal, political and moral arguments. They will probably be back in the Autumn and we can guarantee that we will not stop fighting for our rights until the very end.
This week, we were also in court with the Open Rights Group. Our legal challenge to the UK Government’s immigration exemption for data protection rights was heard at the High Court in London on Tuesday and Wednesday.
We are challenging the exemption as unlawful and discriminatory. It suppresses the very rights that the latest data privacy (GDPR) legislation was meant to protect and removes people’s right to data at the time when they need it most: when they have to prove their right to stay in the UK.
We have already won a victory during the case, forcing the government to admit that the controversial GDPR opt-out has been used to deny people access to their data in 60% of its immigration-related data requests since the beginning of 2019. It was further revealed that people are not informed when the immigration exemption is applied to their case. Shocking stuff really! We understand that the government will now have to tell people when the exemption is applied, and give reasons for not disclosing information to them.
The number of times this exemption has been used confirms the fears we had when we brought the case forward. This vague exemption provides a wide-open opportunity for the Home Office to restrict access to data and avoid accountability for the mistakes it is regularly found to make.
We are now waiting for a decision on the case, which will probably come in October. Thanks to everyone who backed the challenge and who joined us at the hearing.
While most of us will take a break in August, we will continue to keep you posted on Twitter and on our Facebook page so watch these spaces.
European regards,
Nicolas
Nicolas Hatton, Founder member of the3million, the EU citizens' campaign group
PS: we have a little summer project for you. During the referendum campaign Mr Johnson, Ms Patel & Mr Gove promised EU citizens: ➡️ No change ➡️ Automatic right to stay. Now that they are in power, it is time to remind them with one simple postcard:
Simply print, cut out & send it. (link: https://imgur.com/riguvPB)
Tweets of the week
In the news
UK decision to deny EU citizens access to data challenged in court
source: Guardian
No plans for new laws to safeguard rights of EU citizens, says No 10
source: Guardian
“Settled status” headache: updating details after passport renewals
source: Europe Street News
Events near you
Check this website to find out about information events about settled status near you: http://www.eurights.uk/events
Your rights
We have partnered with the European Commission in the UK and Here for Good to provide simple information about your rights as an EU citizen living in the UK. Click on the link below to find out more:
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