LEGAL MINUTE: news about Brexit and immigration
The UK today dismissed the EU’s offer of a two-year extension to the Brexit transition – as it emerged Boris Johnson will take personal charge of negotiations next month. Michel Barnier has repeated that the bloc is ‘open’ to prolonging the standstill period, as governments focus on the coronavirus crisis. From Daily Mail. * The new immigration rules are not really about Brexit. They’re about ripping off workers. Covid-19 has shown what so-called low-skilled workers are really worth. But when this law comes in, things will be grim for them. From The Guardian. * The UK government issued just 100 visas to come to the UK in April after application centres were closed due to the coronavirus, official figures show. From Yahoo. * Boris Johnson has ordered the removal of the NHS migrant surcharge from health and care workers, in a humiliating U-turn a day after telling the House of Commons it would stay. From Independent. * Brexit: is the UK headed for a no deal? The European Union and the British government are due to resume talks next week, the final round scheduled before a “high-level conference” in June to assess progress before the end-of-year deadline. From The Guardian. * Between the start of the UK lockdown on 23 March and the end of April, 295 people entered immigration detention, according to a statistical report on Covid-19 and the immigration system published today. From Free Movement. * The prime minister appeared taken aback this afternoon when told that a family with no recourse to public funds were not able to claim benefits. He was asked about a couple originally from Pakistan, granted leave to remain in the UK, who were struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic. From Metro.
