Oh dear, Brussels! Just 0.04% of Britons sought EU citizenship in year before Brexit

Brexit: Khan on Londoners having ‘associate EU citizenship’

When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters.Sometimes they’ll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer.Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights.You can unsubscribe at any time.

And former Brexit Party MEP Ben Habib has hailed the news as proof that for all their complaints about the ending of freedom of movement, very few of those who campaigned to stay in the EU cared enough to back up their words with action. Experts from the pro-Brexit think-tank Facts4EU compiled their analysis using the latest available figures from Eurostat, the EU’s official statistics agency.

They were motivated to investigate claims in the run-up to the 2016 referendum that huge numbers of British citizens would reject the UK if the majority voted for Brexit.

In the event, it turns out that out of a total UK population of 66,647,112, a mere 29,842 decided to opt for EU citizenship.

In fact, more than twice as many Moroccans as Britons applied for and received EU27 citizenship in the same year – and Morocco’s population is less than half that of the UK.

Facts4EU editor Leigh Evans told Express.co.uk: “Citizenships are only part of the story of Brexit, but they are at least an indicator.

“The fact that so few British people felt like actually changing their citizenship (rather than just talking about it) in the penultimate year of Brexit tells a story in and of itself.”

Mr Evans said: “Let’s not forget that in 2019 – the year for which the EU has just released the latest citizenship data – the UK was expected to leave in March, and then again in October.

JUST IN: ISIS bride Shamima Begum begs for ‘second chance’

“If that wasn’t enough to persuade the doom-mongers of the Remainer-Rejoiner movement to depart for the Brussels mothership, surely nothing would?

“In the case of most British people already resident in EU countries, there is of course no need to renounce their citizenship in order to continue as legal residents in their EU country of choice.

“That said, if these people are so enamoured of the EU in preference to their country of birth, one might have expected a few more of them to have done so.”

DON’T MISS
Brexit LIVE: Thank goodness we are OUT! EU plot major power grab [LIVE BLOG]
Boris made private Brexit promise to Cummings to avoid 2nd referendum [INSIGHT]
Katya Adler exposes why Italy ‘under pressure’ to suspend vaccine [VIDEO]

“That said, if these people are so enamoured of the EU in preference to their country of birth, one might have expected a few more of them to have done so.”

Mr Evans also pointed out that there were far fewer UK citizens living in EU27 countries than EU27 citizens living in the UK.

He added: “During the referendum campaign the figure used for EU citizens in the UK was three million and the number of UK citizens resident in the EU was put at 1.2-1.5 million.

“We consistently produced reports showing this was not the case, and in the end, the EU and British civil servants have admitted the truth.”

Home Office figures indicate that so far, more than five million EU27 nationals have applied under the UK’s permanent settlement scheme.

By contrast, the EU puts the number of British citizens living in the EU27 at 0.85 million.

Mr Evans commented: “The EU benefited far more from free movement – by a factor of 6 to 1 – than did the UK.”

So it turns out that for all those Remainers that bemoaned the fact that Freedom of Movement would end with Brexit, virtually none of them decided freely to move to the European Union

Ben Habib

Mr Habib added: “So it turns out that for all those Remainers that bemoaned the fact that Freedom of Movement would end with Brexit, virtually none of them decided freely to move to the European Union.”

Meanwhile, former Tory MEP, David Campbell Bannerman said: “It’s always been the case that Brits tend to gravitate to the USA, Australia, New Zealand ahead of EU nations, though clearly, they are attractive.

“Brits abroad were only a quarter or less of EU citizens locating in the UK and this proportion is even less now it seems from recent data.

“We welcome good EU citizens settling in the UK, but are relieved free movement is at an end.”

Source: Read Full Article