Nick Clegg has performed another U-turn by dropping his unequivocal support for the free movement of workers between EU nations.
In an article yesterday, the former deputy prime minister said Brussels should stop seeing the controversial policy as an ‘untouchable principle’.
It comes four years after he described freedom of movement as a ‘good thing’ and a ‘cornerstone of European integration’.
The EU’s unwillingness to water down the absolute right for workers to travel throughout the continent is widely seen as having contributed to the referendum result.
Nick Clegg has performed another U-turn by dropping his unequivocal support for the free movement of workers between EU nations
For years former Lib Dem leader Sir Nick has been one of the most vociferous supporters of free movement. But, writing in the Financial Times yesterday, he called on European leaders to reform the rules – saying he hoped it could see Britain remaining in the EU.
Sir Nick singled out German Chancellor Angela Merkel, saying he hoped she would bring in reforms to ‘strengthen the caveats that apply to freedom of movement’.
‘The belief that freedom of movement is an untouchable principle cannot remain unchallenged,’ he said.
‘Member states already apply heavy, lawful limits to it. And in February 2016, negotiating with David Cameron … the EU27 agreed that “free movement of workers may be restricted by measures proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued”. Most tantalisingly of all, as the wheels come off … Theresa May’s ever-more-chaotic approach to Brexit, an overture from the rest of the EU to reform external and internal immigration could be just the compromise that is needed to pave the way for a wider rapprochement between the UK and the EU.’
Sir Nick said it was a ‘myth’ believed in Brussels and other EU capitals that ‘continental concern is only about migration from outside the EU and that the British are unique in their preoccupation with the movement of people within the bloc’.
Clegg’s comments come four years after the then-deputy prime minister described freedom of movement as a ‘good thing’ and a ‘cornerstone of European integration’
Recent election results on the continent show millions of people believe the ‘EU’s collective approach to immigration is serving them poorly’, he wrote. And he pointed out that many European countries already apply restrictions to freedom of movement, such as Germany making people get residence permits and France saying migrants must speak French in the workplace.
Sir Nick’s call for reform to freedom of movement rules are a far cry from his position in 2014, when he made a speech extolling the virtues of EU migration. In it, he said: ‘I want to be unequivocal: freedom of movement between EU member states is a good thing. It’s a cornerstone of European integration.
‘It is necessary in order to be part of the world’s biggest single market … Those who wish to undo it should be careful what they wish for.’