Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Brexit Minister (in respect of his Brexit Minister responsibilities) – in the Senedd at 2:36 pm on 22 January 2020.
The report published this week by the3million organisation really encapsulates the anxiety, the anger, and the sense of being unwanted that all the people surveyed were feeling, even when they had already got settled status. It was disturbing to read, in the light of the Windrush scandal, that women, the self-employed, the unemployed, pensioners, students, and those out of work for medical reasons were all more likely to be asked for additional information. And many of these people have only received pre-settled status. In light of the anxiety expressed by all the respondents, and the sense that cut-and-paste phrases of friendship and protecting the rights of European citizens are encapsulated in the responses, it's really important that, instead of banging the bong on 31 January in a sense of triumphalism, we reach out with that hand of friendship to all the people who've lived in this country for many, many years. So, I just wondered what assurance the Welsh Government can give to people, based on your conversations with the UK Government, that families won't be split up in the long term, and that the settled status isn't anything more than just an exercise, and then attempting to get rid of people who are inconvenient.