Thank you for writing to your MP about physical proof of status.

Watch MPs defending an amendment asking for Comprehensive Sickness Insurance (CSI) to be removed as a requirement when EU citizens apply for citizenship in the UK.

I want to express our gratitude for everyone who wrote to their MP ahead of the debate on the Nationality and Borders Bill in Parliament last week regarding the amendment NC9 tabled by Dame Meg Hillier MP on granting a physical proof of status to EU citizens in the UK.

Stuart McDonald MP also tabled an amendment asking for Comprehensive Sickness Insurance (CSI) to be removed as a requirement when EU citizens apply for citizenship.

Although these amendments were not put to a vote and did not make it into the bill, your emails and letters to MPs helped prioritise these issues and the Government responded that they are looking into these issues again, including specifically referencing the3million’s physical documents proposals.

Below are the video links

• Watch Dame Meg Hillier MP introducing and presenting the NC9 amendment:

• Watch Patrick Grady MP also lending his support on NC9:

• Watch Anne McLaughlin MP speaking in support of the CSI amendment:

And finally, watch Kevin Foster MP’s response to the CSI amendment:

We look forward to the next stage in the House of Lords in the New Year, with hopefully some amendments to probe for more details on these Government responses.

We will continue to stand up and get our voices heard. Watch this space.

Sources

• Text: This piece was originally published in the3million newsletter and re-published in PMP Magazine on 14 December 2021, with the authors’ consent. | The authors write in a personal capacity.
• Cover: Dreamstime/Cyril Hou. (Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.)