“so this is not a game” - Brexit as a ‘situation of uncommon precarity’ for migrants of Roma heritage in the UK

Abstract

Following the 2016 Referendum on UK membership of the EU, the British government indicated that providing evidence of consistent, regular working histories would form the basis of applications by EU migrants seeking to remain in the country long-term. (Home Office, 2018, 2020). In doing so, it made evidence of legal, paid employment central to obtaining legitimate status in the country, but those struggling to produce such information face potentially precarious futures (e.g. Sumption & Kone, 2018). The vulnerability of migrants of Roma heritage to insecure, low status, (and sometimes exploitative), employment conditions in the UK has been highlighted by various studies (e.g. Poole & Adamson 2008; Brown et al., 2016). Such patterns of employment have frequently been described as ‘precarious labour’ in other parts of the European Union (e.g. Apostolova et al., 2014; Vincze, 2015). Studies have suggested that, given the specific disadvantages faced by Roma migrants in the UK, the aftermath of ‘Brexit’ posed enhanced risks an intensification of the precarity they already experience (e.g. Brown et al., 2018). Drawing on interviews conducted with EU migrants of Roma heritage in two different locations in 2019, this paper assesses the implications of Brexit for their continued residence. It argues that for Roma in the UK, Brexit represents a contemporary, but expanded example of precarity, encompassing not only work, but also family and future, hopes and aspirations.