Freedom of Movement: Why It Is Central to Scotland's Interests in the Brexit Negotiations

The UK Government’s determination, following the UK vote to leave the EU in June 2016, to introduce controls on the ability of EU nationals to live and work in the UK, is expected to be a central point of dispute in the framing of a new trading relationship between the EU and the UK. The reason for this is that freedom of movement of people is one of the four founding principles of the EU and is integral to the single market. It is not an add-on which can be traded away against other trade principles or pressures. Within the UK this has particular consequences for Scotland, which has used freedom of movement to make significant economic gains in recent years.