Brexit is on everyone’s lips at the moment. You simply can’t avoid it. With many already firmly in the ‘Leave’ or ‘Remain’ camp, do they fully understand all of the implications and promises being made by their respective teams? One thing is for sure, immigration and employment is hot on all agendas; but what would it really mean if team Leave win the day? Currently EU citizens, including UK nationals, have the automatic right to reside and work in any EU member state. If we exit the EU, that right would be lost but in reality, it simply cannot be that straightforward.

With a loss of talented workers, labour losses and mobility restrictions affecting not just Europeans in general, but UK nationals working within the EU to consider, the government would have no choice but to tread carefully when considering the future regulation of European nationals’ right to live and work in the UK. It is very easy to forget that many UK businesses benefit from this legislation either directly or via trading subsidiaries situated elsewhere in Europe, and many UK nationals live and work elsewhere within the EU benefitting from the very laws that we are seeking to change with an exit.

Family friendly rights such as maternity and paternity leave, business transfers and the working time regulations are just some of the legislation here in the UK that has been drafted with a base in European directive or case law coming out of Brussels. This seems to be a great cause for upset amongst many in the ‘Leave’ camp however, they often seem to overlook the fact that much domestic UK legislation has been drafted to provide much greater protection than required by the EU. This was our decision, not Europe’s.

The truth is that the real impact of an exit on immigration and employment law isn’t known by those in either camp, for the simple reason that it will hinge largely on what the implementation looks like. If we followed Norway and chose to leave the EU but join the EEA, the current immigration rules would remain unchanged for the most part, and the UK would still be subject to much European employment law. Similarly, if individual agreements were sought, there would be a need to satisfy our partners who, whilst trading as individual countries, may still be European countries, and likely therefore to restrict the implementation of our domestic laws within the agreements if they don’t match up to those in the EU.

It is easy to look from the outside in, and make widespread changes and sweeping statements however, the reality is that any changes to immigration and employment laws are unlikely to be radical or immediate on an exit, if any noticeable changes happen at all.