From a Mouse to a Lion (Don't go BREXIT my Heart)

In our latest blog post, Alex Killick, Director of People at Glasgow Caledonian University, writes a response to the Prime Minister following her open letter to EU Nationals last week ahead of the EU Council in Brussels. You can read the Prime Minister’s letter here.

Dear Theresa

Thank you very much for your letter. I hope your discussions with your EU counterparts were constructive although it’s really difficult to tell from all the media coverage. I have a few constructive comments of my own as I travel between Glasgow and Edinburgh, thinking about how to put our people first.

I am really pleased that citizens’ rights are your first priority but unfortunately it doesn’t feel like that from our employees’ perspective. I met recently with some of our EU colleagues who as I am sure you will understand are not best pleased with all of the uncertainties relating to their current situation.

“At least I have the opportunity to work in 27 countries now whereas you only have 1” commented one disgruntled employee. “I feel like I am a pawn in a surreal game of chess” suggested another. I am pleased that citizen’s rights are your priority, so please be brave and don’t wait until you have all the pieces in place. Just take the bold leap of faith and commit to the future of those people that, as you say, have given so much and committed themselves to the UK. No costly bureaucracy, no ‘fee for freedom’ no ‘pay to stay’ application, irrespective of what you can secure for UK nationals in the EU. Your EU counterparts will follow swiftly like snow off a dyke. I hope your digital commitment will turn out as you suggest but suspect it may well still feel like a two tier system for EU nationals.

We have given our EU staff a series of clear commitments of our own– reassurances around employment, around support, around information and around reflecting our and their concerns to politicians and other decision makers.

Universities’ ability to thrive relies on the contribution of all our staff and EU employees make up almost a third of the workforce in some institutions. You already know the significant return on investment you get from Higher Education. There is a real danger that this is put in jeopardy. The Migration Advisory Committee recently visited Scotland to understand the impact of BREXIT and any evidence of ‘brain drain’ as well as future ‘flight risk’. The reality is that at the moment, most people are waiting to see before they disrupt the foundations they have built their lives on. So while you can be reassured on the one hand that people are not voting with their feet, on the other, they may have already voted with their heads and perhaps worse, with their hearts. And what of attracting the vital academic and support stars in future?

 Universities operate in a global talent market and we need to be very careful to reassure the international community that the UK is open for business and welcomes the world to work with us and to continue to be an attractive place for EU and other nationals to come and live and contribute to our society and our economy. While I recognize your need to balance migration, we need to be careful about the unintended consequences of ‘lifting and shifting’ the current Tier 2 bureaucracy on all non-UK nationals. This will just add cost and make us less attractive. Please adopt your pragmatic digital pragmatism for those seeking to come here. The same applies to international students. Make it easy to come and study before we lose out to the rest of the world.

I don’t envy you trying to reconcile almost irreconcilable differences on a journey where, as Eleanor Roosevelt said, ‘you’ll be damned if you do and damned if you don’t”. I am not marshaling an economic or a political argument here, there are plenty who can do this already. I am simply stating a human case - to do the right thing. Be like the lion in the fable and let the mouse live, you will be repaid in spades. You have to do what you have to do but if there is nothing else you do in the short term, give the EU nationals the clarity and certainty they need, and give it now. As Eleanor Roosevelt also said:

“You must do the things you think you cannot do”.

I wish you all the best and know that my EU staff colleagues look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Alex

Author: Alex Killick, Glasgow Caledonian University