Green deputy leader Amelia Womack will defend freedom of movement at an event on the future of young Europeans.
The event comes at the end of a week of Green Party campaigning for free movement. Keeping the right to live, study and work across Europe is one of the things the Green Party will not compromise on when it comes to any deal on leaving the EU – along with securing environmental protections and workers’ rights.
Womack will debate whether it is possible to leave the EU and keep freedom of movement at the event hosted by the European Greens and Scottish young Greens tonight [1].
Womack said:
“A dangerous narrative has developed which has seen migrants wrongly scapegoated for almost every problem we face – from finding a home or a job to getting a doctors’ appointment.
“The Government has let us blame people who have become valuable members of our communities for its own failings.
“Last week the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that, so far, we face an extra £59 billion of borrowing because of Brexit – with £16 billion of that due to a cut in migration. [2]
“Free movement benefits us all. While the NHS employs 100,000 people from other EU countries, there are 1.2 million people born in the UK now living elsewhere in Europe.
“If we do not stand up for free movement now we could find ourselves far poorer in every sense of the word.”
This week Green MEP and migration spokesperson Jean Lambert released a video of important facts about free movement and how it benefits everyone. [3]
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