A PROPOSAL that people in Scotland should be able to retain citizenship of the European Union after Brexit is gaining backing after the issue was successfully raised in the House of Commons by Plaid Cymru.
The Welsh party’s Hywel Williams put forward the following motion which the Commons voted on and agreed: “That this House supports the maintenance of European Union citizenship rights for Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish and English citizens; notes that the range of rights and protections afforded to individuals as European Union citizens are integral to a person’s European identity; further notes that many of those rights are closely linked to the UK’s membership of the single market; and calls on the UK Government to ensure that the UK’s membership of the single market and UK citizens’ right to European Union citizenship are retained in the event that the UK leaves the EU.”
Williams said yesterday: “The House of Commons has spoken. The UK Government must now take this on as a negotiating objective on behalf of Parliament and work with their counterparts in the EU to give UK nationals the right to retain their European citizenship after the UK leaves the EU, if they so wish.”
Edinburgh West LibDem MP Christine Jardine said during the debate that she had found “in my constituency and, indeed, my own family, young people who know nothing more than being part of the EU”.
She added “We are taking their identity away from them and, indeed, from ourselves, because for 40 years we have known nothing else than being proud Europeans.”
Drew Hendry, SNP MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, said: “Citizenship of Europe is very important to us. Scotland is not foreign to Europe, and Europe is not foreign to Scotland. We are Europeans. Those people are our buddies, our chums, our comrades, our confidants, our cronies, our friends, our pals, our mates, our partners and our peers. We should retain the rights and benefits of European citizenship.”
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