I’ve been following the thread - I have honestly no idea if it is true. It reads like a John Cleese farce and is by a professional(?) author so I have my doubts.
One problem is that there is no detail - we don’t know why the incumbents think that they will be prevented from retiring to their French Shangri-la. We can guess at reasons, they might have realised that they will be forced to apply for a CdS, register with the fisc, register the car etc rather than being able to slip in under the radar, they might (genuinely and with good cause) worry about the withdrawal of reciprocal healthcare or meeting minimum income requirements, or they might have got hold of entirely the wrong end of the stick (probable). It all has a whiff of implausibility to it.
Assuming that it is true it seems our protagonists had little clue what Brexit would mean and have little clue how they need to approach moving to France now that we have left - which I admit is par for the course for Brexiteers.
But I can’t see (as I have said before) that Brexit will stop people with adequate income buying a French property and retiring to France (though it might involve more paperwork). The real damage is to the prospects of those who wish to study or work in the EU, including France.
Yep - it is indeed one of the worst implications of brexit: the wealthy and privileged will still have a great deal of ‘freedom of movement’ - ordinary people, especially the young, will have it taken away.
The problem is Alex, the UK wants to euthanise pensioners in crumbling 3rd world hospital corridors to save money, not allow them access to world class health care like in France where people can live longer and collect their state pensions for longer…
I fully realise that pensions/healthcare is run as a Ponzi scheme, not an investment scheme but it sticks in my craw that the government should consider itself absolved of responsibility for my healthcare after a lifetime of paying NI just because I choose to spend my twilight years in France - what next, cancellation of pensions if you move abroad?
They have already cancelled indexing for retirees in some parts of the world. With the possibility of surviving up to 30 years in retirement, a fixed pension can end up being practically worthless.
Daylight robbery if you ask me. . . . . .
More than likely.
Some boring number cruncher will have worked it out and Dominic Cummings will have ticked and actioned it.
No elected politician will have ever known!
I wouldn’t be surprised if they drop the index link for people who move to the EU now - apparently inflation doesn’t happen outside the EU, or anyone who moves must be as rich as Croesus and not need the uplift
Although it is the right thing to do, I suspect the government is making this offer cynically knowing that few will take it up (even given the situation in HK).
I listened to a Hong Kong dissident this morning and it seems, not amazingly, that the majority of residents would prefer to live in Taiwan.
Having seen how the UK has treated incomers lately, who would want to come and live in a country whose inhabitants were just going to abuse them?
I think the offer, as you said, is really made to be seen to be doing the right thing, whilst getting up the noses of China.
“So people can come here based on their skills, not where they’re from”.
Unless they are from Hong Kong - not saying that is wrong but the government seems to want it both ways. They also wanted to set up FoM with the Aussies (who said “no thanks”) - so geography based admission is OK as long as you are from “the right place” (why does it not surprise me that they are hypocrites).
