NICOLA Sturgeon has condemned the “indignity” of a young woman “as Scottish as I am” having to apply to stay in the country she came to as a three-year-old because of Brexit.
The First Minister said the treatment of the fomer child migrant illustrated why she was “determined” to give the people of Scotland a vote on independence.
The woman involved is one of around 280,000 EU nationals living in Scotland who have applied for settled status under a post-Brexit residency scheme which closes on June 30.
The EU Settlement Scheme has already been hit by delays and backlogs, but UK ministers have refused to extend the deadline for applications.
At FMQs, SNP MSP John Mason raised Brexit-related falls in UK food and drink exports, and asked if the people of Scotland should “have the choice between a disastrous Tory Brexit and friendly relations with all European nations” after the Covid crisis.
Ms Sturgeon replied: “Yes, of course they should. Not just because I think they should but because that’s what the people of Scotland voted for in an election a few weeks ago.
“Not only do I think they should, I’m determined that they will.
“The impact of Brexit is only now starting to hit home for people.
“I met EU nationals yesterday who were having to go through the indignity of applying to stay in their own country.
“I spoke to one young woman and this, for me, in some ways, sums up the deep injustice of Brexit.
“A young woman who came to this country at three years old from Germany. Spent periods of her life in the care system here.
“You listen to her, you would not think she is anything other than Scottish.
“She is Scottish, as Scottish as I am. But because, at three years old, she came from Germany she is now having to go through the process of applying to stay in her own country.
“I can’t find the words to say how offended and angry that makes me on behalf of every EU national living in our country.
“I don’t think that’s who we are in our country in Scotland.
“So yes, after we are through this Covid crisis, I do think we should have the opportunity to decide whether we want to be governed by Brexit Tories or governed as a country by a government we elect ourselves based on the values that most of us in Scotland hold dear.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel