Ed Davey has urged Keir Starmer to create a new visa route so that Americans seeking to flee the Trump presidency.
The Lib Dem leader said it should target wealthy Americans so they can “bring their money and their skills” to the UK.
UK immigration lawyers said earlier this week that they have received a spike in inquiries from “mobile, wealthy individuals in tech, law, and the arts” who are “worried about socially conservative policies that Trump could introduce once in office” so they are wanting to move to other countries, such as Britain.
In PMQs, he asked: “An idea for the chancellor to grow the economy: as President-elect Trump prepares to take office next week, there are reports that a number of wealthy, highly-skilled Americans are looking to come to the UK for fear of what President-elect Trump will do to their country.
“But because the Conservatives so broke the immigration system, many of them are finding there is no visa that they can apply for.
“Now I know the Prime Minister is rightly seeking to reduce immigration from the record highs of the Conservatives, but does he agree: if people like this want to come to our country, to bring their money and their skills, so we can grow our economy and pay for our public services, they should be able to?”
Fuck that. I’d want the Irish to let me have a passport because my closest Irish ancestor is my great-grandfather. I’m three quarters Irish but most came over during the Potato Famine.
You’d fit right in with most Americans, as they like to go around claiming Irish heritage and a lot of them have a much more tenuous link than yourself.
In Liverpool Irish heritage is almost taken for granted - amongst my immediate friends, the majority could get an Irish passport, only myself and one other friend miss out by a generation, then there’s a few Welsh thrown into the mix. Even my American second cousins don’t make a big deal about it, although they feel very affectionate about Liverpool - one even started their honeymoon here, which struck everyone else as a bit of a waste.
I remember me and my sister imploring our mum to get one so we could get one in 2016, but she wouldn’t see the point of it.
You’re right, the Irish find it insufferable when Americans come over and do that.
Irish is the largest component in my own mongrel mix, and my surname’s Irish, but when I meet Irish people, I’ll say “ancestry isn’t culture, and I know that,” in order to clear the air. My most recent Irish immigrant ancestor arrived in the 1880s. All I got from them is too many freckles, a red beard and an uncanny ability to drink alcohol without getting a hangover (I make lots of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase).
The cut off is grandparents. I know as I’m entitled to Irish citizenship via my grandmother (as soon as I get a copy of her death certificate)