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‘The losers will be British’: France warns UK about no-deal Brexit as talks progress

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Monday that in the event of a no deal in the trade talks between London and Brussels "the losers will be the British. We don't lose much."

Published: 14 December 2020 13:55 CET

'The losers will be British': France warns UK about no-deal Brexit as talks progress

French finance minister Bruno Le Maire. AFP

Le Maire said that according to government estimates Brexit would only snip 0.1 percent off GDP in France in 2021 and French trade to Britain “was not much as far France's total global trade volume is concerned”.

He criticised the concept of Brexit, borrowing a phrase from the last novel by British spy novelist John Le Carré, whose death was announced on Sunday.

“Brexit, to quote a very simple phrase of John Le Carré – to whom I take this opportunity to pay tribute – is 'lunacy',” Le Maire told France Info radio.

“I regret that my British friends have to pay the price, because they are paying the price for populism, they are paying the price for lies,” he said.

On Monday EU chief Ursula von der Leyen expressed satisfaction over talks with Britain to agree a post-Brexit trade pact, saying there was progress as negotiators entered the “last mile”.

“First of all there is movement. That is good… We are talking about a new beginning with old friends,” she told a conference organised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

“We are on the very last mile to go. But it is an essential one. We want a level playing field, not only at the start, but also over time,” she added.

“This is the architecture we are building. We are fine about the architecture itself, but the details in it – do they really fit? These are crucial points because it is a matter of fairness, fair competition and we want to ensure that.”

Her comments came as EU and British officials were set to return to the negotiating table on Monday after von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to abandon a supposed make-or-break weekend deadline.

Member comments

Anonymous - 14 December 2020 at 17:28 CET

Let’s be serious here, Bruno. The EU is losing a dynamic economy of 65 million people. Anybody who thinks the Brits are the only ones paying a price for Brexit is either disingenuous or naive.
Anonymous - 14 December 2020 at 17:45 CET

We UK cits are indeed the losers, whether there’s a deal or not. I had booked the ferry for tomorrow but cancelled today due to not wanting to contribute to a wave of Covid after Christmas. That means I won’t be allowed in as from Jan 1st until/unless infection rates fall in UK. In turn that means I have to get a new passport ahead of time thanks to Brexit & the six month rule.
I don’t want to say “we British” because our government is indescribably appalling and from now on, although I hold a UK passport, I shall describe myself as my genes indicate, that I’m mainly Irish. Very sadly I’m not entitled to an Irish passport; just a generation too late.
Thanks, The Local, for all your info. I’ve already apologised today to one French person for this shambles & asked her to pass it on to all her colleagues.
I’m afraid Monsieur Le Maire that we are paying the price for one man’s naked and 100% selfish ambition. David Cameron’s referendum was lunacy enough, but BJ’s “toss a choice” in the air & consequently choose, for the sake of his career, to campaign to leave has hidden the truth with lies, bitterly split the country & shamed us internationally. Please apologise to every French friend from me.
Anonymous - 14 December 2020 at 21:28 CET

@ Declan I totally agree with you and couldn’t have put it better myself. I’m not British, but I’m very sorry that the UK have Brexited. The EU is certainly going to miss the dynamism of the Brits, that’s for sure.
But the UK is going to be so much better off in the end, without the terrible bureaucracy of the EU. Bojo must leave though; he’s not good for Britain.
Bruno le Maire is being arrogant, a big show off, but let’s wait and see who really wins in the end. It won’t be the EU.
Anonymous - 14 December 2020 at 21:49 CET

Britain isn’t 65 million dynamic people though, maybe a few million at best. Most of the rest are sheep who’ll believe any old tosh as long as it’s about cutting immigration, perceived sovereignty, royalty or Spitfires.
Britain has an economy that doesn’t grow enough food to feed itself, make cars or most things modern life needs. They are a nation of consumers because they have to be, and the EU produces many of the things they want to buy. If it costs more, they’ll moan, but buy them anyway. Conversely, bar a few luxuries, Britain produces little we want.
EU will be hit, of course it will, but the key difference is that the EU is virtually self-sufficent in the necessities of modern life. Britain, unfortunately is not.
Anonymous - 17 December 2020 at 00:23 CET

Sorry Declan and Daniela but I’m with Bruno and Pam here – Britain will definitely be the biggest loser by far…. all due to political egos.

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'I feel exiled': How Brits in Europe are locked abroad with foreign partners

Europe is home to hundreds of thousands of British nationals, many of whom have foreign partners and children. But if they want to move to the UK to live and work it will soon become more difficult.

When it comes to getting a partner visa, the UK has some of the strictest rules in Europe. In addition to hefty fees and a healthcare surcharge, the Home Office requires British citizens and long-term residents who bring their foreign partner to the UK to have a minimum income showing they can support them without relying on the social security system.

The minimum income up until now was set at £18,600 (€21,700), or £22,400 (€26,100) if the couple had one child, plus another £2,400 (€2,800) for each other child.

But these income requirements will rise steeply from April 11th 2024.

How it works: What Brits in Europe should know about UK’s new minimum income rules

From this date the minimum a British national or long-term resident will need to earn if they want to return home will increase to £29,000 (€33,800) and up to £38,000 (€44,313) by spring 2025, although there will no longer be an additional amount for accompanying children.

Alternatively, families need to prove they have at least £62,500 (€72,884) in cash, which from 11 April will increase to £88,500 (€103,207).

‘Family life has been destroyed’

To put this in context the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford suggests that around 50 percent of UK employees earn less than the £29,000 threshold and 70 percent less than £38,700. The Observatory also says that while the number of people affected by the policy is small compared to the overall UK immigration (family visas represent 5 percent of all entry visas), the impacts on concerned families can be “very significant”.

The Migration Observatory notes that other European countries apply income thresholds to sponsor foreign partners. Spain, for instance, requires sponsors to have an annual income equal to the social security salary. In Denmark, sponsors must not have claimed social benefits in the three years before the application. But in Spain and the US, the partner’s foreign income also counts towards the threshold.

So what does this mean for mixed British and international families living in Europe who might want or even need to return to the UK to live?

Campaigners have complained that many Britons with foreign partners have simply been “locked abroad” or families have been separated while they try to meet the minimum income or savings requirement.

Reunite Families UK, a non-profit organisation supporting people affected by the UK spouse visa rules, says this policy causes distress, especially for children.

Some 65 percent of respondents in research carried out by the group said that their child received a diagnosis of a mental health condition due to the separation of their parents.

“Since its introduction, this policy has destroyed the family life of countless people and children,” Matteo Besana, Advocacy and Campaigns Manager at Reunite Families UK said.

“Women have been forced to become single parents to their children and live away from their partner and the father of their children only because they didn’t meet the threshold.

“As shown by our research on the mental health impact of the policy, these are scars that, particularly for children, will be carried for the rest of their lives,” Besana said.

The people most likely to be affected are women, who tend to earn less or not work because they took on caring responsibilities. Also heavily impacted are people under 30 and over 50 years of age, people living outside London and the Southeast of England where wages are higher, and those belonging to specific ethnicities, according to the Migration Observatory.

The Local spoke to two British women, in Italy and Sweden, struggling to return to the UK with their families because of these rules.

More savings needed

Sarah Douglas, who has been living in Italy since 2007, was planning to return to Scotland with her Italian husband and three children.

“It was always our long-term goal to move back to the UK after we had our children and once we’d have saved enough to buy a home in the UK,” she said.

“In hindsight, we should have gone after the Brexit referendum, but in the beginning it wasn’t clear what the final deal would be and I naively assumed that situations like mine would be taken into account and we would have the right to return… Once it did become clear, we were in the middle of the pandemic and it wasn’t the time to move,” she said.

Having stayed home to take care of the children, Sarah will find it hard to land a job near her family in Scotland that meets the minimum income required to sponsor a foreign partner for a UK visa.

Her husband, a computer programmer, has been trying to get an employment visa, “but most of them state that you must already have permission to work in the UK,” Sarah says. And applying for British citizenship is not an option for a non-UK resident spouse.

‘People need to be aware’

Sarah and her husband are trying to save as much as they can, an alternative to the income requirement, but the amount they need is rising to almost £90,000, meaning it may be a long time before they have enough to move home.

While the aim of the UK’s policy is to ensure families moving to the UK are not a burden on the taxpayer, the reality is that people arriving on a family visa are not able to claim any benefits from the UK government.

“They should judge the overall financial viability of the family unit, rather than just the earning potential of the sponsoring partner,” Sarah says.

“We could live well with my husband’s salary and he could work remotely. We are stable and financially secure, but because I don’t earn any money, they say we are not able to support ourselves.”

Sarah says that most of the British public are unaware of the minimum income requirement.

“People think if you are married, your husband is allowed to come to the UK, but when I say no, it doesn’t work like that, they are really surprised. A lot of people are not aware of how this could affect them,” she said.

Looking for a job from abroad

Another British women who lives in Sweden with her South African husband and two children and plans to move to the UK told The Local how the minimum income requirement had put them in a “precarious and stressful situation”.

The woman, who preferred to remain anonymous said: “After having the two children, I was very fortunate to find a research position and do my PhD, which is a salaried position in Scandinavia, and now that I finished, we are looking to leave.

“But I need a job in the UK to sponsor my husband, and as a new graduate with limited work experience, it is not easy. It is even more difficult when you are not in the country and I missed out on opportunities because they wanted an immediate start. I really don’t want to move without my whole family,” she said.

She says the UK’s policy is “gendered and geographically discriminatory” because it makes life harder for women and also harder for anyone who is planning to move to a part of the country that isn’t in London, where salaries are higher.

“I feel exiled from my country and separated from my family there,” she said.

Her husband, she argues, has his own company and could continue working remotely from the UK, earning well above the requirement. He would also pay taxes and national insurance while having to pay the healthcare surcharge, a form of double taxation, she argues. But that would not entitle him to a visa.

“Our house is on the market now. We have booked removal companies for the 6th of June. The dog is booked for his transport. I just think this policy is so out of touch with the modern world,” she said.

Reunite Families UK has called on the government to recognise the right for British or settled citizens to bring their close family members to the UK and scrap the minimum income requirement. Alternatively, the group says the rules should take into consideration the earning potential of both partners and consider “the best interests of children”.

A petition on the UK parliament website asks the government to reconsider the minimum income policy. If it reaches 100,000 signatures, it will have to be debated in parliament.

This article has been produced by Europe Street news.

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