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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/25/snp-lachlan-brain-deportation-gaelic-scottish-highlands-australia
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| SNP urges chancellor to stop deportation of Gaelic-speaking child | SNP urges chancellor to stop deportation of Gaelic-speaking child |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| George Osborne has been urged to help stop the deportation of a Gaelic-speaking seven-year-old child and his family from the Scottish Highlands to Australia next week. | |
| Angus Robertson, the SNP leader at Westminster, raised the case of Lachlan Brain at prime minister’s questions, where Osborne was standing in for David Cameron. Robertson urged the chancellor to look again urgently at the situation of the Brain family, who are to be sent back to Australia on Tuesday despite having arrived as part of a Scottish government initiative to attract people to live and work in the Highlands. | Angus Robertson, the SNP leader at Westminster, raised the case of Lachlan Brain at prime minister’s questions, where Osborne was standing in for David Cameron. Robertson urged the chancellor to look again urgently at the situation of the Brain family, who are to be sent back to Australia on Tuesday despite having arrived as part of a Scottish government initiative to attract people to live and work in the Highlands. |
| Related: The Sardinian professor fighting to save Gaelic – and all Europe’s minority tongues | Related: The Sardinian professor fighting to save Gaelic – and all Europe’s minority tongues |
| Asked what he had to say to Gregg and Kathryn Brain, Osborne said: “As I understand it the family don’t meet the immigration criteria. The home secretary says she’s very happy to write to the right honourable gentleman about the details of this specific case.” He added that the SNP should use their “very substantial tax and enterprise powers if they want to attract people to the Highlands of Scotland” from the rest of the UK. | Asked what he had to say to Gregg and Kathryn Brain, Osborne said: “As I understand it the family don’t meet the immigration criteria. The home secretary says she’s very happy to write to the right honourable gentleman about the details of this specific case.” He added that the SNP should use their “very substantial tax and enterprise powers if they want to attract people to the Highlands of Scotland” from the rest of the UK. |
| After PMQs, Robertson said the chancellor’s reply was “shameful and frankly not good enough”. He said: “He clearly had no knowledge of the Brain family and their plight despite the case being front-page news in Scotland and SNP MPs repeatedly raising it in parliament. Appeals have been made to the home secretary to allow the Brain family to stay. There have been interventions by the first minister, by the local MP, by the local MSP, by community members. The problem of the Highlands has not been unwanted immigration – it has been emigration. Even at this late stage will the chancellor, the home secretary and government look again at this case and let the Brain family stay in the Highlands?” | After PMQs, Robertson said the chancellor’s reply was “shameful and frankly not good enough”. He said: “He clearly had no knowledge of the Brain family and their plight despite the case being front-page news in Scotland and SNP MPs repeatedly raising it in parliament. Appeals have been made to the home secretary to allow the Brain family to stay. There have been interventions by the first minister, by the local MP, by the local MSP, by community members. The problem of the Highlands has not been unwanted immigration – it has been emigration. Even at this late stage will the chancellor, the home secretary and government look again at this case and let the Brain family stay in the Highlands?” |
| Lachlan arrived with his parents in 2011 and attends the Gaelic-medium primary school in Dingwall. | Lachlan arrived with his parents in 2011 and attends the Gaelic-medium primary school in Dingwall. |
| Scottish newspapers reported that Kathryn Brain arrived on a student visa in 2011 after the couple fell in love with the Highlands when on holiday in 2001. Both have Scottish roots and wanted to help repopulate the area as part of a programme advertised in Australia by the Scottish government. | Scottish newspapers reported that Kathryn Brain arrived on a student visa in 2011 after the couple fell in love with the Highlands when on holiday in 2001. Both have Scottish roots and wanted to help repopulate the area as part of a programme advertised in Australia by the Scottish government. |
| Gregg Brain had been working and Kathryn Brain had been offered a job when her student visa expired in December. The Home Office took the decision that they should not be allowed to stay. | Gregg Brain had been working and Kathryn Brain had been offered a job when her student visa expired in December. The Home Office took the decision that they should not be allowed to stay. |
| Last week Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, personally intervened in the case, writing to the home secretary, Theresa May, urging her to reconsider the decision. The SNP leader wrote: “I fear this is another example of the inflexibilities of the UK immigration system resulting in Scotland losing talented individuals who have studied at our universities and contributed to our economy. We need an immigration system in Scotland that meets our own needs and our continuous calls for the reinstatement of the post-study work route in Scotland would help to address these needs.” | |
| Kate Forbes, the newly elected SNP MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, has likewise asked May to intervene to allow the family to stay in Scotland. Forbes wrote: “Gregg, Kathryn and Lachlan Brain are an integral part of our Highland community and have contributed economically, culturally and socially to the Highlands,” she said. “In the constituency which I have recently been elected to serve at Holyrood we need more families like the Brains and threatening them with deportation undermines efforts to make the Highlands thrive.” | Kate Forbes, the newly elected SNP MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, has likewise asked May to intervene to allow the family to stay in Scotland. Forbes wrote: “Gregg, Kathryn and Lachlan Brain are an integral part of our Highland community and have contributed economically, culturally and socially to the Highlands,” she said. “In the constituency which I have recently been elected to serve at Holyrood we need more families like the Brains and threatening them with deportation undermines efforts to make the Highlands thrive.” |