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A Brexit row has burst into life after Sweden ordered a number of elderly Britons to leave under its sweeping migration crackdown.
Over the last few months, the Scandinavian country has passed a wave of laws in a bid to reverse decades of open borders which have left it with one of the largest immigrant populations in Europe.
The right-wing Sweden Democrats party, part of the ruling coalition, has vowed to create one of the most hostile environments for non-Europeans on the continent.
As a result, older British expats who have lived there for decades are being ordered to leave.
Sweden has booted out three times more Britons than people from any other European country after Brexit.
In a mirror of the Windrush "scandal", Sweden chose not to contact Britons individually to remind them to apply to stay.
Its migration agency says not knowing a Brexit application had to be made is not a "reasonable ground" to stay.
Many elderly residents simply assumed they were safe to carry on.
A number of cases have received significant public attention - with 78-year-old widow Joyce Thomas and 74-year-old Horace Mason, who has dementia and Parkinson's, both told to go home.
Sweden has booted out three times more Britons than people from any other European country after Brexit
|GETTY
Swedish MP Hakan Svenneling has written to the country's migration minister Johan Forssell asking what he "intends to do to stop the deportations".
He has also warned that the Brexit residency rights issue is damaging Sweden's traditionally strong relationship with Britain.
In his letter, Mr Svenneling said Britons living lawfully in Sweden before Brexit would see their "existing residency rights continue to apply" under the withdrawal agreement.
"It was not intended to result in elderly people who had lived in Sweden for decades losing their rights to remain because of a missed deadline or deficiencies in their application," Mr Svenneling said.
"The United Kingdom has long been an important partner for Sweden in a wide range of areas. It is clear that the deportations now taking place are damaging bilateral relations between Sweden and the United Kingdom."
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Swedish MP Hakan Svenneling has written to the country's migration minister Johan Forssell (pictured) over the deportations
|REUTERS
Ms Thomas, 78, told The Guardian: "I am in shock. I feel sick. An individual's life is at stake at my age. It is hell. I have done nothing wrong."
She moved to Sweden 21 years ago with her husband, who died of cancer in 2023.
He did all the administrative work in the household - but Ms Thomas and her friends insist they were told they did not have to fill in any more forms to stay in Sweden after Brexit.
She made an application to stay in the country in 2023 - more than a year after the deadline of December 31, 2021.
Both she and dementia patient Mr Mason were given four weeks to return to Britain.
Horace Mason is among the Britons who have been told to leave Sweden
|MASON FAMILY
Mr Mason's family tried to argue he had rights under the ECHR to stay close to his family in Sweden.
Sweden's migration court of appeal ruled that "the state's interest in regulated immigration outweighs Mason's interest in continuing to reside" in the country.
The British Foreign Office said it has repeatedly raised concerns with the European Commission over Sweden's crackdown.
It says the country "is taking a considerably stricter approach" to late applications than any other EU member state.
"In practice, individuals are not likely to have their reasonable grounds [for a late application] accepted," the department said.