Why should I lobby MPs now? There have been two rounds of negotiations between the UK and the EU about Citizens' Rights and a third round clarifiying positions will be held next week (end August).
The start has not been promising. The British government has insisted on EU citizens post-Brexit fitting into UK immigration procedures for third country nationals, with a loss of rights and the end of the protection of the European Court of Justice. In what could be a race to the bottom, the European Commission has gone back on its own negotiating guideliness and said that post-Brexit UK nationals will have no freedom of movement within the EU. This would be leave us landlocked and without the possibility to travel freely and work throughout Europe.
Despite magnanimous promises of guaranteeing citizens' rights, both sides seem to be prepared to see them undermined and for the 3 million Europeans in Britain and 1.2 million Britons in the EU to be used as bargaining chips.
How can I participate in the e-lobby?
It's very easy. You just sign up and send an email to your UK MP (in the place you last voted). So far 750 members of British in Europe have joined up, but we need thousands more.
You can also share with your friends and families in the UK to increase the impact even more.
sign up to mass lobby here
What is the mass lobby in London on 13 September?
There will be short welcome speeches at the Emmanuel Centre between 13h00 and 14h00 (including from BiE), and these will be broadcast live via Facebook Live. The lobby itself will happen between 14h00 and 18h00, when people will be taken across to the House of Commons in groups to meet their MPs. There will be representatives from BiE, the3million and Unison in each of the committee rooms in Parliament throughout the afternoon, greeting and briefing MPs and peers. From 18h00 there will be a large rally in Trafalgar Square with speeches from key politicians (names to be announced?
If you can't go, try to convince friends and family in London to go to the big rally in Trafalgar Square.
