The plight of Dundee Holocaust survivor Irena Jendrycha has been raised again in Parliament.
An early day motion put forward by Dundee West MP Chris Law was submitted on Thursday.
In it, Mr Law wants to “draw attention” to the contributions made to the UK by EU nationals, as well as pointing out the issues faced by Mrs Jendrycha and others like her who have had to apply for settled status post-Brexit.
Irena, 77, described the experience of applying for settled status after Brexit like something from “the horrors of her past” and the process left her feeling as if “any goodness was sucked out of me like a syringe”.
What are Early Day Motions?
Early day motions (EDMs) are motions submitted for debate in the House of Commons for which no day has been fixed.
As there is no specific time allocated to EDMs very few are debated. However, many attract a great deal of public interest and media coverage.
EDMs are used to put on record the views of individual MPs or to draw attention to specific events or campaigns. Topics covered by EDMs vary widely.
By attracting the signatures of other MPs, they can be used to demonstrate the level of parliamentary support for a particular cause or point of view.
The motion
It read: “That this House recognises the contribution that the hundreds of thousands of European nationals living in the UK have made to the UK, further recognises that one of those European Nationals is Dundee’s Irena Jendrycha, one of the UK’s last Holocaust survivors, who moved to the UK aged four after her liberation from a German concentration camp, notes that Irena, like the hundreds of thousands of other European Nationals living in the UK, was forced to apply through the EU Settlement Scheme to secure her place in the UK.
“Further notes that Irena, despite applying is still unaware of her status, which has caused her a lot of stress and anguish and calls on the Government to resolve applications such as Irena’s as soon as possible and ensure that the status of those who are still unsure of their status in the UK will be treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve.”