The 43 second video appeared on social media with the charges of £65 an adult and £32.50 a child to stay in the UK
OPPOSITION politicians have hit out at a Home Office campaign to accuse it of browbeating EU nationals into registering in the UK.
A 43 second video spread on social media featured cheery music and pictures of smiling people to give details of the EU settlement scheme.
It also laid out charges of £65 for an adult and £32.50 for children that must be paid for them to stay in the UK.
As well as being branded a rip off, some also accused the campaign of carrying a veiled threat to deport the EU citizens if they failed to register.
The scheme – which will be fully operational by March 30 - will check the identity, residence status and criminal record of all EU citizens living in the UK.
Senior Labour MP branded the adverts “all part of a nasty, closed-minded, closed-country attitude”.
The SNP’s immigration spokesman Stuart McDonald MP said: “These adverts highlight the horrible consequences of Brexit and Theresa May’s obsession with ending free movement of people – both are grave mistakes”.
Labour’s shadow home secretary Diane Abbott added: “The Home Office attempts to process the over 3 million EU nationals entitled to register under settlement scheme is a disaster waiting to happen”.
THOSE EU citizens who have built their lives in the UK have given huge amounts to this country – and they must be made to feel welcome.
So the Home Office’s sinister demand that they “apply” to stay here after we leave the EU, with the silent threat of imminent deportation, strikes all the wrong notes.
Of course there will be paperwork involved. But there is a difference between ensuring control of our borders and straight-forward hostility.
Language will be vitally important as we show the world we remain a global nation that is open to those who want to work hard and get on.
Between these tone-deaf messages and the inability to patrol the seas off Dover — with potentially tragic consequences — we are seriously concerned that the Home Office isn’t up to it.
Sajid Javid has work to do.
