In the Sunday article, headed “We are being abandoned: Britons in the EU on the Brexit deal vote”, Fiona Godfrey, who founded British immigrants living in Luxembourg (Brill), explained she fears that she won’t have a job after 29 March, deal or no deal.

The article explained that the health policy consultant is not covered by the Brexit withdrawal agreement protecting the rights of employees because she is a freelancer providing a service. “I’ve worked all my adult life and it is a big worry to think that I might be about to lose my livelihood,” she was quoted as saying.

Godfrey has applied for Luxembourg citizenship, but if it is not processed in time, she will be forced to seek legal advice on her status. She was critical of the British government’s advice on the matter, which was to “apply for the citizenship of another country. We are being completed ignored and abandoned and there is very little help from anyone, anywhere.”

Godfrey was also interviewed on the BBC Today programme on Monday morning in which she repeated her concerns.

Since the 2016 Brexit vote in which a slight majority voted in favour of the UK’s departure from the EU, over 500 British nationals have acquired Luxembourg citizenship to secure their rights in the EU.

In November 2018, British ambassador to Luxembourg gave assurances to people with just British citizenship living in Luxembourg that they will have the right to permanently live, work and receive social benefits in Luxembourg as well as bring over close family provided they have lived in the country for five years at the end of the implementation period (1 December 2020). The question of onward movement and the rights of UK nationals to then work in a foreign country remain unclear.

On Tuesday, the UK parliament will vote on prime minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal. Most UK media speculate it will not be passed and The Guardian suggests the defeat could prompt a cross-party plan to force May to quit.