EU citizens applying for jobs in the UK are being discriminated against amid uncertainty over their post-Brexit status, according to a dossier from a campaign group.
David Davis, the Brexit secretary, is being pressed to clarify the rights of EU workers after evidence emerged that employers were barring European citizens from applying for jobs.
Paul Blomfield, Labour’s shadow Brexit minister, has written to Mr Davis outlining instances of “unlawful” discrimination against EU citizens by employers and businesses.
It is illegal for employers to turn down job seekers or for companies to deny goods or services to customers on the basis of nationality. However, a dossier compiled by The 3 million, an EU citizens’ rights campaign group, and seen by The Times, lays bare the extent of discrimination against EU citizens by dozens of employers.
It includes job adverts stipulating that applicants must be UK citizens or hold British passports; rental properties advertised for British nationals only or subjecting EU citizens to different terms; and travel agencies refusing to accept bookings from non-British citizens and cancelling holidays already booked.
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Sir Keir Starmer, Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary, said that the allegations proved that uncertainty for EU citizens was “already leading to discrimination”.
In June Brussels negotiators rejected the government’s residency rights proposals for EU citizens post-Brexit. The proposed light-touch “special status” regime outlined by Theresa May would give EU citizens who had lived in the UK for five years before the formal Brexit date indefinite leave to remain.
Sir Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, said the dossier proved that Brexit had led to EU citizens “being treated like second-class citizens”.
“Ministers should act now to guarantee the rights of EU citizens, or sadly cases like these will become more widespread,” he said. “We are still a member of the European Union, and all EU citizens are entitled to full rights.”
A spokeswoman for the Department for Exiting the European Union said: “It is completely unacceptable for people to experience discrimination because of their nationality.”