Good morning,

This week over 50 civil society organisations have signed a joint open letter to the Prime Minister asking for him to extend the transition period due to the challenges of Covid-19. Citizens’ rights are potentially at risk in Northern Ireland which has been revealed following a series of Freedom of Information requests to the UK Home Office. As usual we have some recommended reading for your Friday.

Enjoy,
Jacob

In Politics

Civil Society Organisations Call for Transition Period Extension

Over 50 organisations have called for an extension to the transition period
Charities facing three concurrent challenges: Covid-19, unknown funding future, and an uncertain post-Brexit landscape
A transition period extension could provide time for organisations to handle Covid-19 first then adapt to post-Brexit landscape

This week over 50 civil society organisations called on the Prime Minister in an open letter to extend the transition period. In their joint open letter organisations asked the PM to extend the transition period because of the impact Covid-19 was having on the sector, highlighting that: “The capacity of the UK and the EU states to make the domestic preparations needed to exit the transition period and implement the Withdrawal Agreement has already been severely limited.”

As Ilse Mogensen, the3million, points out: “Preparations are not just about leaving existing treaties, but also about implementing the Withdrawal Agreement. Many EU countries must now introduce legislation to ensure all resident British citizens are granted status. Combined with the temporary closure of many support services for EU citizens in the UK now applying for status under the EU Settlement Scheme, the rights of millions of citizens are affected on both sides of the Channel.”

The letter also points to the “understandably” reduced capacity of the Government to negotiate a trade deal, and for Parliament to then scrutinise this deal, given the current focus on supporting those individuals, communities, and organisations that have been hardest hit by Covid-19.

Geoff Nuttall, Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA), said: “We are concerned that every effort is made to avoid adding the social and economic impacts of a no-deal Brexit to the Covid-19 crisis. We believe it is vital that adequate time is given to discussions on the future UK-EU relationship which will have profound implications for the future of our society and economy. The current crisis understandably makes it virtually impossible to give adequate time and attention to these discussions, so we believe an extension period is vital.”

As we have outlined before, many civil society organisations are facing three major challenges at once: responding to Covid-19, a lack of clarity about the replacement of EU funding, and an uncertain post-Brexit landscape. A one-off extension to the transition period could provide much needed time for charities on the frontline of Covid-19 to get through the pandemic and then understand, prepare, and adapt to the changes that will arise from Brexit.

In Policy

Northern Ireland Hit Disproportionally By Immigration Checks

Home Office making immigration checks in Common Travel Area (CTA) after assurances it wouldn’t
Concerns about the effect these checks will have on citizens’ rights
Still no detail on ‘frontier workers’ scheme from UK Government

There are concerns in Northern Ireland about “disproportionately high” levels of immigration checks and the threats this has to citizens’ rights, especially post-Brexit. As reported by Maresa Fagan and Luke Butterly in thedetail, a series of Freedom of Information requests have revealed that Belfast had the “third highest number of checks when compared to other UK cities between 2012-2016”.

Due to a big difference between the number of people stopped and the number of arrests, only one third were arrested, there are concerns that the immigration checks are based on racial profiling rather than being ‘intelligence-led’ as the Home Office claimed in their comment. This is affecting people who have travel rights under the Common Travel Area (CTA). As pointed out by Úna Boyd from the Committee on the Administration of Justice, the UK Government has previously “given assurances that there will be no checks whatsoever within the Common Travel Area”.

There are worries about the effect checks will have post-Brexit and with the new immigration system. Boyd shared concerns that “instead of stopping these checks, the UK government is increasing them, bringing EU nationals under these policies, and attempting to turn Northern Ireland into one big border.” An increase in checks could lead to problems for those who currently live on one side of the border and work in the other. Under the CTA, and while the UK was a member of the EU, citizens could travel and work easily on both sides. Immigration checks could threaten rights agreed under the CTA.

A further problem comes for EU citizens living in Ireland but working in Northern Ireland. While the UK was a member of the EU, EU citizens could work and travel easily. Now the UK has left the EU, this will depend on post-transition period arrangements, and because they do not live in the UK they are ineligible for the EU Settlement Scheme. The UK Government has yet to detail a scheme for ‘frontier workers’, which the EU workers would classify as. This was highlighted in the above article, and cross border organisations have previously warned about this.

Ultimately this comes down to citizens’ rights to work and reside in the UK that are being changed, despite assurances from the UK Government that they would be safe. Furthermore, this is another addition to the UK Government's growing task list of things to complete before the end of 2020.

Recommended Reading

Medicine supplies concerns with no-deal Brexit and Covid-19 at the BBC
The Royal Association for Deaf People have a video in British Sign Language answering common questions about the EU Settlement Scheme here
House of Commons Library has an update on Brexit legislation progress
Adam Payne looks at the impacts of the Northern Ireland protocol here