Should the UK return to EU free movement?

[EEexpat]

Advantages and disadvantages?

From what I know only 8% of firms in the UK export to the UK? And UK exports to the EU make up what 12% of GDP?

Yes, please!!!!

The benefits for UK citizens far, far, far outweigh the downsides. I do think that the UK should institute some kind of electronic tracking, even if they do not want ID cards like most EU countries have, to ensure that when people say they are legitimately in the EU under FOM to work, study or live that this can be easily and accurately verified if needed.

Why is it no longer possible? I buy from the eu all the time. I just have to pay duty. What is the issue?

Germany has digital ID and a very high number of undocumented migrants.

Plus there’s a fair bit of unrest in various EU countries rn. It’s becoming more strained.

In my last EU trip I had a very unpleasant experience with someone who had an EU passport but they originally aren't from anywhere near the EU. I don't want them coming to blighty at all.

I do hope so it’s extortionate right now, and English traders have a terrible entitled attitude in my experience- they act like they are doing you a favour by doing the work. The foreign traders are polite, well mannered and grateful for the work.

But they take the money and then transfer to back to their home countries. That is terrible for our economy. Personally I’ve never had a bad attitude from a tradesperson in the last 10 years whether UK or foreign. I think you have been very unlucky.

This is a very easy one for me to answer (as someone who lived in the EU for a while post Brexit but also has a business in Uk that does a lot of business in the EU - ) the fact is the EU acted fully post Brexit on the fact that countries individual mailing delivery services’could’ charge for handling fees if stuff came from the UK direct to the customer , this was nothing to do with VAT it was a totally separate thing and of course many of them did as such - we lived in Copenhagen and frequently when we first moved there ordered bits on mail order for say£12 we were then hit with a £14 handling fee at the doorstep - since then they have also imposed a£3 an item charge for anything non EU - this was to try and help on the cheap Chinese imports stuff - but of course hits tgeUK as well - The UK in reverse actually didn’t impose the charges because in my opinion it would have become very clear that stuff would become very expensive due to the sheer volume of stuff that comes from the EU - even basic stuff like car part bits , so when it comes to mail order it’s all somewhat 1 way!! It’s made most UK business that do a lot of mail order in to the EU either stop or have a fall off in sales and it’s not really hit things the other way around for those selling into UK from EU - I can also say the day after Brexit all the nice UK produce and brands vanished off the shelves of supermarkets and a ton of Irish produce in its place. Along with many others , purely from a commercial and fiscal sense I don’t see any benefits atall - and the red tape is horrendous too -so yes whilst there may be a bit less red tape for some businesses that did no import/export - there’s an absolute ton more for those that do , and it doesn’t come cheap either. My personal view is there is disquiet in most places at the moment mainly from the covid drag, Ukraine and Trumps actions , making the cost of living an issue in a lot of places- Germany has specific issues due to its previous heavy dependence on Russia and issues on Trump tariffs partly in part due to its actual previous strengths in automotive and engineering. it’s easy to think itszan EU issue when it is more of a global issue in the western world - my view is we should instigate some kind of individual deal like Norway that involves single market, keep sterling, customs union, freedom of movement but registration instantly ( most of EU has this) no rights to benefits for 3 years and no right to remain if not paying tax or in work after 6 months if under 55- so basically freedom of movement for work or retirement - and the same should apply the other way around too for Brits moving to the EU post any agreement. I do think we still have some clout, and I don’t think there would be any sudden rush - many from the cheaper countries find the UK incredibly expensive and decent paid work opportunities not that great either. If the country needs growth and tax income it is the easiest way to stick 5% on the economy within 12 months and make the country far more investable for large scale business

Well you are very lucky then -I’ve had some incredibly poor experiences from British tradesmen - clearing off on jobs half done giving no indication when they will be back or £170 for 20 minute job etc and these are ones that come recommended!! On the contrary my lovely Polish lady who does some ironing for me when it piles up , picks up, brings it back looking like it’s on Benetton shelves, charges me what I think is far too cheap so I always tip and gets it back exactly when she says she would, all with a smile and a Christmas card every year - weirdly she says she really likes ironing too. She’s been here 25 years and I doubt very much she’s busy sending money anywhere.

Part of the reason so many are rioting in Europe is because of the cost of living and their decline in living standards. France is in a real real mess.
I don’t see the Spanish welcoming the English - going over and taking their jobs, causing a rise in house prices for locals. My friends daughter spent a year at a Spanish university, but couldn’t secure a job there when she finished her degree.
She is currently working for a charity, earning peanuts.
My neighbour recently employed an Albanian tradesperson. We caught him trying to open our front door. Never employ any tradesperson without recommendations. There are plenty of really talented British expert tradespeople - who have trained for years. Of course there are cowboys around. But if you want cheap, you get cheap.

I do pay the sensible day rate, but there are a lot of folk who want a cheap job. If you are on a tight budget, you are probably more vulnerable.

I don't see English people taking Spanish jobs, because only now, after two years of learning Spanish and daily practice, would I feel capable of having a casual chat. By English standards, I am good at languages. But I could just about get by in a cafe or small restaurant.

Youth unemployment in the EU is as bad as that in the UK, about 15%. Also, taxes in the developed Western European countries are higher than the UK. So, why would young people in the UK want to work in the UK?

ie what would benefit would FOM bring to young people in the UK?

I agree it’s high. Also young people there are not happy atm, the economic pressures are huge too. The rioting isn’t good. I don’t see why we’d want to encourage similar here.

I think people look back to 2016 when looking at all this, rather than EU countries now.

"freedom to travel in europe" since when has the freedom to travel to EU states been taken away from you ? I swear to god i have been in Greece, Italy, Spain, Holland, Germany, Belgium and France in the last 8 months and not once did i have to beg to enter any of them.

@EasternStandard

I think people look back to 2016 when looking at all this, rather than EU countries now.

Yes. Often, when the subject of Brexit arises, it becomes a re-run of the 2016 campaign. The same comments appear:

The referendum shouldn’t have been held
The referendum was not binding
People didn’t know what they were voting for

Rather than answer the OP question.

Both the EU and the rest of the world have changed significantly since 2016.

@LowlandLucky

I worked in the Netherlands from January 2020 to December 2025. That I didn’t have an EU passport was never a problem.

Also, non-EU passport holders can be in the EU for 6 months per year. Only the wealthy, or those retired with good pensions, would be able to afford to travel for that amount of time. For most, it would be a two week visit.

Within two weeks of advertising - 400 people had applied for a job with this small hotel chain in the Lake District last year;

The hospitality industry in the Lake District has long lamented staff shortages caused by the lack of affordable homes and limited local transport.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgr9vjxk94xo

Around 700,000 EU citizens are claiming universal credit - perhaps your lovely Polish lady has her income topped up by universal credit.

Yes

I may have been fortunate, but I prefer to think I did my homework. I have a genius of a general builder. He's done a shedload of varied jobs, fitted a new kitchen, saved a bathroom and a lot of other jobs. I reckon I have paid him roughly £90k over the last ten years to solve all the problems I am unable to manage. It's probably more, but he also knows who is a good specialist, so I ask him for recommendations too. It is quite a big house too at almost 4,000 sq ft.

Many family members worked In Europe and around the world well before the EU was a glint in the autocrats eyes.

It's always been possible and still is and always will be.
To travel and work in the EU

I have children, I love travel , leaving the EU hasn't worried me one bit.
I find the focus on free movement quite selfish from many because I can't understand how anyone could argue that what happened to us in 2007 was a good thing ?

We have suffered immensely because of it and seeded new gangsters into our society.
People seem to have forgotten the enourmous explosion of actual modern day slavery !
And all the rest.
But it's worth it for little Tabitha to work in Spain , as she could before the EU and after Brexit anyway ?
Doesn't Equate to my mind.

Also, we would join the European asylum scheme where we would only need to accept out fair share of asylum seekers. At the moment we get far more.

'At the moment we get far more'

What are you basing this claim on? The UK receives fewer asylum applications than France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

On a per capita basis (asylum applications per head of population), the Refugee Council recently put the UK in 16th place in Europe. The Migration Observatory puts us in the range 13th to 18th place in the EU/EEA area, depending on the year, over the last five years. The European Union recorded over 4 million asylum applications in the last 5 years (not including the scheme for Ukrainians).

And what about secondary migration of refugees once they have gained EU citizenship? For example, around a third to a half of Somalian refugees who were granted refugee status in countries such as the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, subsequently moved on to the UK with EU citizenship (several tens of thousands of them) - one of the reasons being that they wanted to live in their own Somali communities, whereas the Netherlands and Denmark in particular tried to force structural assimilation.

We didn’t have to accept the mass immigration we had under Blair and it wouldn’t be repeated

It has been repeated already.

Tony Blair put seven-year transitional controls on Romania and Bulgaria when they joined the EU in 2007 - the controls expired at the end of 2013. Ultimately it made no difference - more than a million Romanian nationals have applied to the EU Settlement Scheme and several hundreds of thousands of Bulgarians.

The seven-year transitional constraints deferred rather than prevented mass immigration. In turn, Albania and Ukraine are very poor countries - Ukraine was the poorest country in Europe even before the war started, and the UK has returned more Albanians who arrived by small boat than any other nationality. Of course they will come in their hundreds of thousands, perhaps a million or more.

@Clavinova and remember polish children who had never set foot in the UK getting child benefit!

Yes, I do remember.

@Newbutoldfather we didn't have to accept it....oh I see ...I wasn't sure at the time what I personally could do to stop it ?

What can any of us do to stop it ?

We elect leaders to make these descions and Blair and brown decided to rub our noses in it. The results are and were beyond catastophic.

I was pregnant at the time and terffied of giving birth because hospitals were closing maternity wards all around me due to massive birth rates ...from the EU.
Women left to labour alone ,on road sides ,no pain relief ,travelling miles to strange hospitals...id like Blair and brown to experience that pain and fear for endless hours and no way of knowing how it will end.
And all the rest.

I will never ever trust any politician again after that and I certainly reject another hazy vague corrupt layer of government over and above the ones we already have to endure.

Brexit has aided mobility to Australia