British Parliament Draw the Line with Free Labor Immigration from the EU

The lower house of the British Parliament passed the bill stopping free access to the British labor market for citizens of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Three months after Brexit, the British Parliament House of Commons approved in the second reading the bill aimed at stopping the free movement of European labor. On Monday evening, March 18, the document was supported by 351 deputies, 252 voted against. Now the bill will be submitted to the House of Lords. According to the document, from January 1, 2021, citizens of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland will no longer have free access to the British labor market. According to Interior Minister Priti Patel, the new immigration system will be "more reliable, fair and simple." In addition, it will play a “significant role” in healing the British economy from the coronavirus pandemic effects, the British minister said. British labor and study visas issuing to Europeans will be regulated by the new points system which the Boris Johnson government introduced in February. It provides an advantage to workers with “special skills”. In particular, those who already have a job offer in the UK and to professions or academic degrees holders needed in this country in scientific and technical specialties, namely they will get the most points. Negotiations on further relations between London and Brussels stalled Meanwhile, negotiations between the UK and the EU on relations after Brexit have reached an impasse. On May 15, at the end of the third round of negotiations, representatives of both sides made mutual reproaches for the lack of progress on the central issue of competition in trade relations. Michel Barnier, the EU Brexit chief negotiator, stated there was no London desire to complete the dialogue, and that the British side searched for the benefits access to the EU single market without any related obligations. Representative of the British government, David Frost, sees the main obstacle in the negotiations in the EU’s insistent demand to include a set of "new and unbalanced proposals for the so-called" rules of the game "that will tie the UK to EU laws and standards. The UK officially withdrew from the EU on January 31, 2020, 43 months after the Brexit supporters won the 2016 referendum. Until the end of this year, the transitional period continues, during which the UK retains access to the EU internal market and remains in the customs union. UK membership in the European Union lasted 47 years.