CYP Now - Longfield calls on EU to prioritise children during Brexit talks

The children's commissioner for England has called on EU negotiators to take a more constructive approach to the residency status of hundreds of thousands of children born to EU nationals but living in England, and the thousands of UK-born children living in other EU countries.

In a letter to the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, Longfield called for swift guarantees around the residency status of 588,000 children of EU nationals living in England, 260,000 of whom were born in Britain.

Under current EU proposals their future status will only be resolved once details of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) are agreed, which is not likely to be until the end of negotiations in 2019.

In the letter to Barnier, Longfield calls for the issue of immigration rights to be separated from ECJ jurisdiction and made a priority.

She warned that refusal to do this risks turning children into "bargaining chips", leaving them in limbo at a time when they are already anxious about their future.

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