All EU Citizens Should Be Allowed To Stay In The UK, Says Jacob Rees-Mogg
21 January 2019, 09:50 | Updated: 21 January 2019, 09:53
Jacob Rees-Mogg has criticised the government over the charges that EU citizens are having to pay to apply for "settled status" in the UK post-Brexit.
Today marks the day that the millions of EU citizens can start applying for settled status in the UK as the post-Brexit registration system opens nationwide, paying £65 for the privilege.
Nick Ferrari has been inundated with calls from worried Europeans living in the UK who said they are worried about their future because of the process.
And Jacob Rees-Mogg said the process was completely wrong and he wants all the people who moved here from the European Union to stay without exception.
Speaking on Ring Rees-Mogg, he told LBC: "It's absolutely fine that when you or I need a passport, we have to pay to register it. We want the passport to go abroad and to use it for some purpose. Likewise for a driving licence.
"But we are saying to people who have been living here legally, who have had all the right papers to be here, that they must have a new paper for which they must pay. They should have it free in the same way that birth certificates are free.
"I feel very strongly about this.
"The tone of the debate about EU nationals here has often been very wrong.
"If any of your listeners are EU nationals and I'm sure that many of them are, I think we should be really honoured that they came to this country. They came here legally.
"They have contributed to our society, they have worked very hard and very often, they have send money back to their families at home.
"To say to them that because we've changed our relationship with the European Union that their lives should change is to my mind unfair. We should have said in June 2016 they could all stay and we weren't going to do anything that would upset that.
"The £65 charge should be waived, I think it's unreasonable."
