Under new immigration rules outlined by the UK government, British tourists wanting to visit Europe after Brexit would face a €7 fee and an online application process. Under a plan announced by Prime Minister Theresa May at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Europeans itching to visit Britain would have to submit to security and criminal records checks before they arrive in the country.
After May's round of broadcast interviews, an EU source said, “The new migration regime is for the UK to set. We have two principles in this: reciprocity and also non-discrimination between EU nationals.” European Parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt dismissed parts of the plan, which was outlined by Home Secretary Sajid Javid, under which low-skilled EU citizens would be excluded from coming to work in the UK. He said, “We will never accept discrimination based on skills and nationality. We will never give in and undermine the principles of our union. We will never undermine the principles of the European project to rescue a political party in Britain who is not even capable to find a common line on the exit of the mess Brexit.”
Sources in Europe said the new approach would automatically result in British citizens having to participate in the European Union's new travel authorisation system, which is due to come into effect in 2021. In a system similar to that used in the United States, British citizens would have to apply online before traveling and pay a €7 fee for authorisation lasting up to three years.
Criticising the plan, Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the CBI said, “Restricting access to the workers the UK needs is self-defeating. By dismissing the importance of low-skilled workers to the economy, the government risks harming businesses and living standards now and in the future.” Retailers argued that immigration policy should not differentiate between high-skilled and low-skilled workers.
In his conference speech, Javid said new immigrants seeking British citizenship would have to pass a “British values” test, likening the existing citizenship exam to a pub quiz. He said, “We welcome newcomers. In turn, we expect them to live by our British values. It is only right that we make it clear to all new citizens what we are for and what we are against. The existing Life in the UK test for new citizens is not enough. Maybe it is helpful for people to know the name of the sixth wife of Henry VIII but far more important to me is that they also understand the liberal, democratic values that bind our society together.” He added, “Citizenship should mean more than being able to win a pub quiz. It's about signing up to those values that we share and live by together. It's about starting as you mean to go on. It's about integration, not segregation.”
Alp Mehmet, vice-chairman of Migration Watch, a right-of-centre think tank, said the proposals were unlikely to cut net migration. “The overall numbers, frankly, are quite likely to go up if the migration advisory committee’s recommendations are adopted, simply because it's not just about curbing the number of low-skilled people coming here. We want net migration to come down and these proposals are not likely to do that; you are simply going to replace EU migration with migration from elsewhere.”
