dsr wrote:I said they may be offered the chance - the corollary is that they may not. But as the ones who would accept the chance to be UK citizens would be the ones who don't want to be in the EU and the ones who are willing to work hard for minimum wage (as a generalisation), then I think there might be more Tory voters than you think.
Do I actually understand what you have written there?
You are saying that EU citizens who are currently living and working here "may not" be offered citizenship? (Only a current or former UKip supporter could countenance such a suggestion.)
(For anyone only just joining this debate, I am referring specifically to the 3 million EU citizens who live and work here who aren't currently allowed to vote in general Elections because they aren't British Citizens)
Post Brexit, (and assuming we have a hard border) there are only 3 options (I think):
1. Go home
2. UK citizenship (voluntary)
or as an alternative 3. Not apply for citizenship but live and work here under some form of visa system.
I don't think that the last option would be very popular, since it wouldn't guarantee their future security, and it might give them less rights than a UK passport holder, so the vast majority would opt for citizenship.
"But as the ones who would accept the chance to be UK citizens would be the ones who don't want to be in the EU and the ones who are willing to work hard for minimum wage (as a generalisation),"
You do realise that that's just a ridiculous thing to say don't you, just in order to try and make a political point?. [We are dealing with people's lives here, irrespective of their contribution to the economy].
There are already a large number of people in the UK with dual nationality. (Conversely there are currently potentially 5 million UK citizens who (e.g.) are eligible for an Irish EU passport, and large numbers are applying for one).
Just because you apply for British citizenship doesn't mean - as you state - that you don't want to be in the EU. Indeed the opposite is the case. I can't imagine any EU citizen currently living and working in the UK renouncing their Polish or French or Irish or whatever Citizenship. That would be plain daft since they would lose their right to free movement.
I find it hard to understand why you would assume that your less wealthy agricultural workers, (who probably haven't put down any roots here as yet), are more likely to apply for citizenship than the Jewish refugee who came over here and has lived here since 1945, or the Hungarian doctor who has been performing operation over here for the past 35 years and is settled with children and grandchildren, or the nurse whose wife also works for the NHS?
No promises have been made about their futures, but one assumes that a deal will be made with the EU as a priority. One would have to assume that the majority will opt for British Citizenship, and as I said the fact that they have been left in limbo since the referendum with a cloud hanging over their future is unlikely to make them want to rush out and vote Tory. (And vote in elections they will, because the majority having been brought up in Communist regimes, they absolutely understand the importance of democratic elections).
