Lord Lawson leaving France

Lord Lawson, Chancellor of the Exchequer under Margaret Thatcher, bought and renovated a 19th century country mansion in the Gers in the south-west in 2001. He lives there and travels back for House of Lords debates.

But he recently told a BBC Radio 5 interviewer that he was returning to live in the UK.

When Connexion contacted him to ask why, he said: “My house is on the market. It’s well known that I live here and when I’ve sold it I’ll be moving back to where my children and grandchildren live.”

Asked what had changed since spring when he was applying for a residency card, he said: “That was not with a view to staying but to make sure I have medical coverage while I’m here."

He added: "French bureaucracy is pretty slow so it [the card] hasn’t come through yet.”

Under British law, members of the House of Lords must be UK tax-domiciled.

When Connexion asked him if this was a factor in his decision to return to the UK, Lord Lawson said: “I am tax resident in the UK.” Had this caused problems with his French residency application? “No, not at all,” he said.

Lord Lawson, 86, added that he considers Brexit is currently “a complete mess”, with the exit deal on the table “disastrous”.

A French Interior Ministry source said that tax residency abroad would usually block someone from being considered an habitual resident of France, which is necessary for obtaining a carte de séjour.

One tax specialist working with Britons in France said the French do not separate the concepts of residence and domicile, as the UK does, and Lord Lawson probably meets French residency criteria through having his main home here.

However, he said there are dispensations which British statesmen can use so they are still deemed by the UK to be domiciled there for tax.

“Having your cake and eating it is one of the great joys of being a politician,” he said.

The prefecture of the Gers said it had no record of an application for a residency card from Lord Lawson.

British residents at the time of Brexit will need to meet the same stable and legal residency criteria required for an EU citizen permanent residency carte de séjour to stay living here under the terms of the draft agreement. The card is expected to simplify proving the right to benefit from the agreement.

After Brexit, Britons would either have to apply for visas and non-EU citizen residency cards to move here or be restricted to staying for no more than 90 days out of every 180 days as visitors.

The draft Brexit agreement includes the right for British state pensioners living in France to continue having French healthcare paid for by the UK as now via the EU’s S1 form scheme.

A permanent residency card (which EU citizens may apply for if they can prove five years’ continuous, legal, residency) also guarantees the right to be covered under the French Puma health system for residents of France who do not qualify in other ways such as by work or holding an S1 form.

Occasional British visitors, such as holiday home-owners, currently use a European Ehic card for healthcare they need in France.

Under the draft deal this will continue during any transition period but any continuation after that would be subject to separate negotiations about the ongoing relationship, yet to start.