The rights of British citizens to live, work, travel and retire freely across the European Union came to an end today after Priti Patel confirmed the Immigration Bill has passed through Parliament.
After facing significant headwinds in the House of Lords, the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill gained assent today in preparation for the UK’s split with the EU at the end of the year.
Peers had expressed concerns over help for unaccompanied child refugees among other things, but striking a jubilant tone, Patel was clearly delighted to see the bill pass after “many years of campaigning”.
Reaction elsewhere, however, was less enthusiastic.
Professor Tanja Bueltmann, a German living in Scotland, said the Bill ends the rights of millions of people like her to “freely choose to make the UK their home and contribute to society here”.
Brian Cox questioned why anyone would celebrate the end of such freedoms, while others took a similar dim view.
We’ve picked out some early reaction:
