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Labour: Govt must fight for rights of expats in UK

Author
Christina Campbell,
Publish Date
Sun, 7 Feb 2016, 6:37AM
Opposition Health Spokesperson Annette King (Getty Images)
Opposition Health Spokesperson Annette King (Getty Images)

Labour: Govt must fight for rights of expats in UK

Author
Christina Campbell,
Publish Date
Sun, 7 Feb 2016, 6:37AM

Labour's telling the government to fight for the rights of expats in the UK.

It's been announced New Zealanders who plan to spend more than six months in Britain will now be charged $400 dollars to cover healthcare.

That's despite the UK having a reciprocal agreement with New Zealand to provide urgent treatment free of charge.

Opposition Health Spokesperson Annette King said the government must act now.

"I would hope that John Key and Johnathan Coleman would get on the telephone today and call up Mr Cameron and ask why they had made a decision that is unilateral on a reciprocal agreement."

Ms King said it's a stab in the back to the relationship between the two countries.

"I'm staggered that the first we heard about it was about 4 days ago and it was under review. Now we hear that the immigration minister in the UK has announced that a surtax will be charged."

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