Unkind, incompetent or both?
Letter to UK citizens evidence of a 'hostile environment'.
It appears that thousands of letters have been sent to people who have held British citizenship for decades warning them that 'to carry on living in the UK after June 30th 2021 you and your family members need to have a UK immigration status'.
It continues 'You need to apply…to carry on being eligible for benefits, access free healthcare and to have the right to work in the UK after June 2021.'
A local Lib Dem member and activist recently received just such a letter out of the blue You can read the full letter here (personal details have been redacted).
Why has she received such a letter? It would appear that the only relevant factor was that she was born in an EU country and seems to ignore the fact that she applied for and was granted British Citizenship over 40 years ago and has held a UK passport for a similar period of time.
The hurt and concern generated by these ill considered letters has been highlighted in this article in the national press.
Such a poorly targeted and unnecessarily aggressive letter can only be the product of a Home Office that is trying to sound tough when it lacks the skills or resources to be effective in even identifying the people it is supposedly concerned about.
It took me just a few minutes to check that the member in question could vote in a General Election - a pity that the Home Office could not apply this basic check to flag up that as far as one part of government was concerned, they were a UK citizen.