Britons who commute to Europe or work short-term contracts say Theresa May’s plan will leave them worse off after Brexit

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Up to 45,000 Britons who live and pay tax in Britain but work in mainland Europe could lose their jobs under Theresa May’s proposals for EU citizens in the UK, it has emerged.

British commuters to mainland Europe and short-term contractors who work on the continent say the British proposal does not cater for them.



Chris Williams, 53, an ex-RAF special projects officer, who is working on a software development contract for a European defence consortium in the Netherlands, said: “As soon as the vote for Brexit came along, I started to get worried. At the moment I’m only eligible to work in Europe because Britain is in the EU and each country has double tax agreements.”



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He has spent the past decade hopping from one short-term contract to another in Holland, Belgium and Germany and says IT contractors like him are in high demand in Europe.

But because he does not settle in one country he fears his work opportunities will collapse after Brexit.

“If the freedom of movement is gone, I won’t be able to apply for the jobs in the first place,” said Williams, who has worked for the Luftwaffe in Germany and on ballistic missile defence systems, moving around Germany, Belgium and Holland for periods of six months to two years.

Workers like Williams have raised their concern as the European parliament chief Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, said MEPs would veto the British proposal unless it was improved. Among the many questions he raised was the lack of provision for EU citizens commuting to the UK: “Why are frontier workers, who work in the UK but live in the EU, not mentioned at all?”

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The government said it made the offer in the “expectation that the EU would offer reciprocal treatment for UK nationals resident in its member states”.

However some Britons are angry that the UK proposal makes no provisions for those who work in Europe but not settled there.

David Miers, a businessman who lives in Kent but splits his time between his home office in the UK and Essen, said the government either omitted a provision for cross-border commuters or failed to understand the complexity of the group that its policy will affect.



The British are the single biggest national group to be affected by Brexit, with 1.2 million living in Europe, more than any EU national group in the UK.

Miers, 52, and Williams also point to the tens of thousands of others who fall through the cracks.

“Get on any low-cost airline on a Monday morning and they are full of EU commuters in both directions,” said Miers.

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EU citizens who live in one country but work in another are required to obtain a Portable Document A1 certificate for tax purposes. The most recent EU data shows that 44,332 Britons were issued with the certificate and of these 10,000 of those are active in two or more states.

Their automatic right to work in the EU will end on Brexit day if May’s proposals are adopted by the EU.

Colio Yeo, an immigration barrister, said the quid pro quo to May’s proposal is that British citizens wishing to work in Europe will need to apply for work permits under the national laws of those countries, with EU nationals given first preference.

“Those travelling for business will need to be careful not to breach standard visit visa rules on conducting such business.

“The UK proposal is completely silent on how the offer might be reciprocated for UK citizens living in the EU,” said Yeo.

The Cabinet Office minister Damian Green told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today that the basic rights of EU citizens living in the UK would be “preserved”.

He urged Verhofstadt to “read our proposal”, which the UK government insists would allow about 3 million EU citizens to stay on the same basis as now.

But Williams fears that although he is currently in high demand, after Brexit his CV will go to the bottom of the pile in places such as Germany where companies have to prove they are unable to find an EU Citizen to do the job before hiring a third-country national.

“If there is going to be an EU-citizen first policy, we Brits will be very far down the list and it will really reduce my chance of getting work,” said Williams.