Italian's bank accounts frozen under shameful’ Brexit rules

An Italian restaurant owner and his British wife have had their bank accounts frozen overnight after 15 years of custom in a "catastrophic" post-Brexit tactic they say is designed by the government to frighten immigrants into leaving the UK.

- Lisa O'Carroll

Massimo and Dee are two of thousands of EU citizens who are discovering the permanent residence (PR) cards they obtained were invalidated by Brexit and even after 21 years of paying tax in the UK they are not entitled to remain.

The EU citizens campaign group the 3 million fears there is worse to come after the "shameful" decision by the government to make it more difficult for people such as Massimo to get the EU settled status they need in place of the blue PR card. The 3 million said it had seen multiple cases of people with PR cards being rejected summarily under this new rule.

Andreea Dumitrache, the interim chief executive of the campaign group, said: "From August, not knowing you have to apply to the settlement scheme even though you were granted a document confirming your residency rights previously is no longer considered a reasonable ground for applying late."