Thursday 18 December 2014

ECJ rules that UK can't control free movement of non-EU citizens either

The EU Court of Injustice has ruled that the British government isn't allowed to restrict the free movement of partners of EU citizens even if they don't have citizenship of an EU country themselves.

A test case was brought by a British citizen who also holds Irish citizenship living in Spain whose Columbian wife had to apply for a family visa every 6 months to be allowed to enter the UK. The ECJ ruled that because she has a Spanish residency permit she should also be allowed free movement across the EU and that the British government's visa system is illegal under EU law.

A spokesman for the British government says that they are disappointed with the outcome but they won't comment further because the High Court has yet to rule on it. This is clearly a cop-out though because the EU courts have primacy over UK courts, making the High Court's decision an irrelevance.

We can't control immigration from EU citizens and now we can't even stop non-EU citizens from coming here and yet David Cameron and Ed Miliband still try and con the public into thinking that they are capable of controlling immigration whilst remaining members of the EU. It's just not possible and anyone - politician or otherwise - who tells you that it's possible is either stupid or dishonest. Or, as far as politicians are concerned, probably both.