By: COLIN GORDON

COLIN GORDON — Wed, 07 Dec 2016 09:35:48 +0000

My thanks to Craig Mackay for picking up on this point from my comment which he cites – which in turn was picking up on some excellent posts by the blogger brexit853, especially here: https://brexit853.wordpress.com/2016/09/26/fom-isnt-the-problem-the-problems-are-uk-governments-failure-to-implement-properly/ . It’s good to see these points further developed and sources at Craig’s blog. My own inquiries indicated that academic experts endorse the key point that the EU’s Freedom of Movement rules allow for more controls on movement by Member States than the UK has to date either chosen to use or chosen to recognize are possible, because UK governments have found it convenient to blame the EU for levels of migration they have found it expedient to allow. Clearly recognizing and highlighting this really important point could modify the whole strategic balance of the upcoming Brexit debate – including evaluation of the net benefits of any preferred Brexit formula against the option to Remain. This point significantly undercuts one of the key arguments for Brexit put forward in the Referendum campaign which Theresa May herself has (characteristically) chosen to embrace, i.e. the insistence on the need for fuller sovereignty over border controls. All this does not of course mean that available FOM powers should actually be used, as they could be, to reduce the inflow of EU citizens into the UK. There are indeed already clear hints that the present government has little real intention of imposing such restrictions. What it means is that the UK already has the ability to choose its policy for these matters within some significant degrees of freedom, and accordingly that the claim that we are forced to perform a harder Brexit in order to recover this freedom is false. Maybe it would be helpful if some key people in journalism, politics and the research sector were willing to endorse these points and call for their wider recognition?

By: Craig Mackay

Craig Mackay — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 16:28:28 +0000

An excellent comment by Colin Gordon to the piece by Ian Dunt on this website draws attention to the fact that the rules surrounding Freedom of Movement are very much more restrictive than anything implemented by the British government and particularly by Theresa May as Home Secretary for six years. It is astonishing that these rules are not understood properly and certainly are never discussed. Had they been known, the pressure for even holding a referendum would have evaporated and we wouldn’t be in the dreadful mess we are now.
A brief summary of those comments including references to their origin can be found at: http://outsidethebubble.net/2016/12/06/massive-negligence-by-theresa-may-when-home-secretary/

Comments on: ‘Keep calm and negotiate’ – EU’s Brexit lead takes tough line in first public statement

By: COLIN GORDON

By: Craig Mackay