EU Settlement Scheme

Prior to Brexit, European Economic Area (EEA)/Swiss citizens (termed ‘EEA citizens’ for these purposes) and their family members benefited from EU free movement rights, which were primarily implemented in the UK by the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 (the EEA Regs 2016), SI 2016/1052. In line with the Withdrawal Agreement reached between the EU and the UK on 17 October 2019, and the equivalent agreements reached with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein and Switzerland, these Regulations continued to apply in full throughout the transition period that applied immediately after the UK left the EU (ie between 1 February 2020 and 11 pm on 31 December 2020).

For details of the legal mechanisms for which effected the end of free movement, see Practice Note: Brexit and the end of EU free movement law in the UK. All EEA citizens arriving in the UK from that time (who are not otherwise in scope of the EU Settlement Scheme) have been subject to the new ‘single’ post-Brexit immigration system.

The EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) was introduced as a new immigration route under the Immigration Rules that allows

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Conservatives announce plans to withdraw from the ECHR and abolish the Immigration Tribunal

The leader of the Conservative party, Kemi Badenoch MP, announced at the party conference on 5 October 2025 that the next Conservative election manifesto will contain a commitment to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and repeal the Human Rights Act 1998. This follows the completion of an advice document by the Shadow Attorney General, Lord Wolfson, which looked at whether remaining signed up to the Convention would constrain a future Conservative government in the following areas: making a ‘stringent’ border policy possible; protecting soldiers from ‘vexatious’ legal claims, especially over Northern Ireland and overseas operations; placing blanket restrictions on foreign nationals in terms of social housing and benefits; setting mandatory sentences for serious crimes and banning ‘disruptive’ protests; and delivering infrastructure and energy projects without extensive human rights and climate-based litigation. In his separate address to the conference, the Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Philp MP, asserted that current judicial interpretations of the ECHR impede effective border control and the deportation of foreign offenders. He also announced that, following withdrawal, the party proposed to legislate for a Borders plan that would prohibit all asylum and other claims made by those entering the UK unlawfully, including those arriving by small boats. Such individuals would be removed immediately to their country of origin, or, where that is not possible, to a designated safe third country such as Rwanda, within one week of arrival.

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