One of my longest standing arguments in the general debate on the European Union is that freedom of movement is fundamentally popular. It might well be the most popular thing the EU has done.
This is a very unusual idea to hear in Britain. A couple decades of right-wing tabloids lambasting immigration with every other headline and a referendum based in no small part on the alure of ‘taking back control’ of Britain’s borders has led many to conclude that freedom of movement is inherently toxic.
Yet as Britain grapples with the consequences of Brexit, it seems increasingly evident that your average Brit actually quite liked the EU’s freedom of movement – they just didn’t recognise it as such.
It is an unfortunate reality for the EU that many of its greatest achievements (easy movement across borders, frictionless trade, peace among members) are entirely taken for granted. These benefits become so embedded in our society and our everyday lives that to really break from them seems almost inconceivable. Things that European integration has carefully built up over many years of debates, compromises and common laws are simply understood as the way things are these days.
We need only look at the number of Brits who lived in parts of the EU and yet still voted for Brexit. Just this week, another example of this phenomenon spread across anti-Brexit networks online. Unsurprisingly many condemned the person in question for having made such an illogical decision. However, assuming this person acted within what they saw as rational, we have to imagine that they really did believe that a vote to end freedom of movement wouldn’t impact them.
So why would they believe this? Freedom of movement was understood as something that other people did or, at the very least, it was assumed that the benefits it might once have brought for a British citizen have been superseded by modern norms.
This is partly why so many Leave voters have bought into the idea that the EU is punishing Brits with new post-Brexit rules on immigration. If you believe that easy movement and relaxed immigration controls are simply the standard of modern life and not, as is actually the case, an exceptional bit of pioneering policy almost unique to Europe, then you would indeed assume that the kind of tough restrictions Brits must now go through are an act of spite.
The one-directional nature of British understanding of freedom of movement comes through clearly in polls that tackle this problem head-on. While everyone can easily imagine how most Brits would response to the idea of opening up the borders by itself, it becomes much more popular when framed in terms of reciprocity. Most recently, in March a poll found 84% were in favour of ‘mutual’ freedom of movement between the UK and the EU. This rises to 88% when people are simply asked whether they would like Brits to have the right to freely travel and work in the EU.
Some will argue that politicians should leave this debate now, for fear of how things might unfold if we re-opened that can of worms. But the pressure to deal with the misunderstandings around freedom of movement won’t go away, for two main reasons.
First, the end of freedom of movement continues to frustrate people in their daily lives. Whether visiting relatives, searching for job opportunities, planning a sunny retirement or just trying to get through the passport checks, the return of old immigration rules is not something that people appreciate. And while Brexit may have made people realise that the previous freedoms weren’t a product of nature, they likely still feel that those were freedoms they deserved. The young in particular, those who were born with EU citizenship, have a hard time seeing why they shouldn’t have the same advantages as their counterparts from Spain, Italy or Poland.
Second, the various ways that Brexit is failing will keep on pushing the UK closer to the EU as politicians try and fix what has been broken. For the moment they still have some margin to accomplish this without breaching any of the classic red lines – including a return of freedom of movement. But the potential wins are dwindling and what gains can come from staying within the Brexit orthodoxy are likely much smaller than our leaders anticipate. At a certain point, politicians will have to choose between selling Brits on a structurally weaker economy and selling them on freedom of movement. Some may stick to the devil they know but the temptation to move on from 2016 will be strong.
Sooner or later, the question of freedom of movement will be unavoidable. But contrary to the expectations of many in Westminster, among the public there is both a desire to make life easier again and an understanding of when an issue is mutually beneficial, rather than zero-sum. Politicians who are planning to stick around should embrace this shift, lest they get left behind.