Polish leader in Dundee calls for residency cards

Nicola Sturgeon slams UK Government for treating EU citizens as ‘bargaining chips’ as hundreds attend Q&A looking for answers on their futures in Scotland

EU nationals living in Scotland should be given official residency cards to formalise the SNP’s commitment to protecting their rights, says a Polish community leader in Dundee.

Wlodzimierz Szepielow, who is the president of the Polish Association in the city, called on Nicola Sturgeon to make the move during a Q&A with hundreds of EU citizens in Edinburgh yesterday.

The First Minister repeatedly said during the meeting that she will fight to retain full rights for EU nationals living here, as she slated the UK Government for the “disgraceful” failure to provide assurances about their futures after the Brexit vote.

Mr Szepielow called on her to go further and issue all EU nationals in Scotland with residency cards to reinforce their status here.

“This is something I hope will be more than symbolic but will give proof that the Scottish Government will do everything to protect EU nationals living here,” he told The Courier after the event.

“It would formalise that commitment and would be very welcome.”

Downing Street says it fully expects the legal rights of EU nationals already living here to be protected, but added they need to get assurances over the rights of Brits living in Europe too.

Speaking at the event in Edinburgh Corn Exchange, Ms Sturgeon called for the UK Government – and other EU countries – to make the guarantee immediately.

“I think it’s disgraceful that such guarantee has not already been given,” she added.

To applause, she told the audience: “You are not bargaining chips, you are human beings, with families, jobs, friends and lives here.”

But she was on the receiving end of a broadside from a Northern Irish man who said she had failed to clamp down on elements of her party who engage in anti-British rhetoric.

“When are you going to hold an event like this for UK citizens to reassure us that your nationalists will no longer speak division and hatred against us so that we can feel welcome in our homes as well?” he asked.

Ms Sturgeon replied that she admonishes any such comments, insisting she wants independence for Scotland in which there are no divisions based on background. gmcpherson@thecourier.co.uk

Picture: Alan Milligan. Thomas and Elke Westen, from Kirkcaldy, a German couple who have decided to leave Scotland as a result of the Brexit vote, with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.