Abstract
AbstractEuropean Freedom of Movement (EFM) was central to the referendum on the UK's membership of the EU. Under a ‘hard’ Brexit scenario, it is expected that EFM between the UK and the EU will cease, raising uncertainties about the rights of existing EU citizens in the UK and those of any future EU migrants. This article is concerned with the prospects for family rights linked to EFM which, I argue, impinge on a range of families – so-called ‘Brexit families’ (Kofman, 2017) – beyond those who are EU-national families living in the UK. The article draws on policy analysis of developments in the conditionality attached to the family rights of non-EU migrants, EU migrants and UK citizens at the intersection of migration and welfare systems since 2010, to identify the potential trajectory of rights post-Brexit. While the findings highlight stratification in family rights between and within those three groups, the pattern is one in which class and gender divisions are prominent and have become more so over time as a result of the particular types of conditionality introduced. I conclude by arguing that, with the cessation of EFM, those axes will also be central in the re-ordering of the rights of ‘Brexit families’.
Highlights
European Freedom of Movement (EFM) – consisting of free movement of persons, residency and equal treatment – was a central issue in the June 2016 referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU, which resulted in a ‘leave’ vote
The emphasis in a utilitarian migration policy of selecting ‘the brightest and the best’ (May, 2017) further problematised ‘uncontrollable’ EU migration; this is despite evidence that EU-born migrants living in the UK are better educated than UK-born adults, and as well educated as their non-EU born counterparts (Frattini, 2017)
It is one that risks being elided because research largely considers migrants as individual economic actors (Kilkey et al, 2014). It is important because the question of what the curtailment of EFM will mean for family rights has significance for families beyond those who are EU-national families living in the UK
Summary
European Freedom of Movement (EFM) – consisting of free movement of persons, residency and equal treatment – was a central issue in the June 2016 referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU, which resulted in a ‘leave’ vote. This requires examination of the rights of migrants in the UK and of UK citizens, pertaining to entry (including for visits), temporary residence and permanent residence or settlement4 of their non-UK-citizen family members.
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