No deal for
EU citizens coming to UK during Brexit transition – PM
Theresa May
pours cold water on EU27’s free movement ‘status quo’ until 2020 plan
Jessica
Elgot, Anushka Asthana and Daniel Boffey
Wed 31 Jan
2018 22.30 GMT Last modified on Thu 1 Feb 2018 08.26 GMT
Theresa May
has sparked a new clash with Brussels by saying that EU citizens who arrive
during the post-Brexit transition period must not have the same rights as those
who came before.
The prime
minister’s remarks set her on course for a major skirmish with officials in
Brussels, who have offered a “status quo” transition period until December
2020, including free movement and citizens’ rights for those who settle in the
UK during that period.
Rules for
new EU migrants could include mandatory work permits, requirements to register
on arrival and restrictions on access to benefits, which would not apply to EU
citizens who moved to the UK before Brexit.
Speaking to
reporters on a three-day trip to China, May said the details were “a matter for
negotiation for the implementation period, but I’m clear there is a difference
between those who came prior to us leaving and those who will come when they
know the UK is leaving.”
May said
she wanted to resist the idea that not much would change after the UK exits the
block, putting her at odds with her chancellor Philip Hammond who said the aim
was for “very modest changes” post-Brexit.
“What we’re
doing now is doing the job that the British people asked the government to do
which is to deliver on Brexit,” she said. “In doing that they did not vote for
nothing to change when we come out of the EU.”
Brussels
intends to firmly rebuff any attempt to water down the “four freedoms”,
including the free movement of people, during the transition period, sources
said.
The EU
believe they had agreed with the UK that citizens coming to the country before
the end of the transition period would be covered on rights for EU nationals.
Guy
Verhofstadt, the European parliament’s Brexit coordinator, told the Guardian:
“Citizens’ rights during the transition is not negotiable. We will not accept
that there are two sets of rights for EU citizens. For the transition to work,
it must mean a continuation of the existing acquis with no exceptions.”
May’s
comments also triggered anger among campaigners and MPs who raised fears about
discrimination and uncertainty in light of the PM’s remarks.
Nicolas
Hatton, the co-founder of the3million which represents European citizens living
in Britain, argued that the UK was effectively staying inside the EU until the
end of the transition period because it wanted to retain the benefits of
membership until then.
“I think
there would be utter chaos if there is a distinction between those arriving by
March 2019 and those arriving in transition because there is no way to make a
distinction between those groups, so it could lead to widespread discrimination
of EU citizens,” he said, raising fears about access to jobs, ability to secure
accommodation and having a functioning bank account.
Meanwhile,
the Labour MP and leading supporter of the Open Britain campaign, Peter Kyle,
said EU citizens made an “enormous contribution” to Britain, including to public
services and the NHS. He argued they “should be welcomed and valued rather than
turned away”.
“For
thousands of British businesses that depend on being able to recruit staff from
across the EU, the prime minister’s latest comments will only increase the
uncertainty created by Brexit,” added Kyle.
The EU27’s
position is that, during a transition, the UK must accept the rules of the
single market, customs union, including free movement and decisions of the
European court of justice, including new EU laws that come into force. Britain
would no longer have ministers, diplomats or MEPs.
May again
insisted that she did not want to extend the transition period beyond two
years. “On the length of the implementation period, people were saying, ‘oh
we’re secretly negotiating for three years.’ No. We’re not,” she said.
“We’re very
clear. I said in the Florence speech that we expected it to be around two years
because that is what seems to be the right period of time, practically. But I’m
also very clear we are not talking about something that is going to on and on.
We’re leaving the European Union.”
Her
comments on citizens’ rights leave the UK with several key sticking points for
the second phase of negotiations with Brussels. Several key Brexiters in the
cabinet are said to have strong reservations about the offer on the table from
Brussels, including the foreign secretary Boris Johnson.
Brexit
secretary David Davis told a committee of peers on Monday that the UK would
robustly oppose the EU’s decision to apply all its laws and regulations to the
UK until the end of 2020. “There will be an argument, I’m sure, about the issue
of whether we can object to new laws that we haven’t had a say in,” he said.
Last week,
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leave-backing Tory MP who chairs the European Research
Group, accused the government of threatening to turn the UK into a “vassal
state” during the transitional period.
Second Brexit
analysis leak shows harm of tighter migration rules
Leak comes
after government decides to release leaked Brexit report to MPs
Peter
Walker and Anushka Asthana
Wed 31 Jan
2018 23.23 GMT First published on Wed 31 Jan 2018 14.45 GMT
The
government is to release a leaked Brexit analysis that shows the UK economy
would be significantly worse off in every modelled scenario after it decided
not to oppose a Labour motion calling for the documents to be issued.
The
decision came as a second leak from the analysis emerged showing that
tightening up Britain’s immigration system after Brexit would cause more
economic damage than could be balanced out by any trade gains.
The paper
suggested the negative impact of a strict migration regime, in which free
movement was replaced with a policy similar to that for non-EU migrants, would
dwarf the 0.2% boost to economic growth from a US trade deal.
And the
study suggested such growth would even be cancelled out under a more relaxed
immigration regime, according to the papers seen by BuzzFeed.
The initial
report on the leak revealed that it predicts the UK will end up economically
worse off under three possible Brexit scenarios: a comprehensive free trade
deal, single market access and no deal at all.
Meanwhile a
poll by the Best for Britain campaign group and YouGov showed shifting
attitudes, with the public now expressing a preference for free trade with the
EU over immigration controls.
The shadow
Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, said the move to release the original analysis
in full was “a victory for transparency and accountability” after the motion
calling for the documents to be provided to MPs and the Brexit select committee
was passed unanimously.
Asked by
Starmer about when the papers would be released, the Speaker, John Bercow, ruled
it should happen “as a matter of urgency”, as decreed in the motion.
After the
debate, Starmer said Labour expected ministers to hand over the papers by the
end of the week, though the exact timetable has yet to be determined.
Speaking in
the debate, the junior Brexit minister Robin Walker said some elements would be
redacted if there was a possibility they could affect negotiations with the EU,
and the studies would only be available to MPs in a confidential reading room.
“A key part
of this is for the government to be able to conduct internal thinking when it
comes to preparing policy,” Walker said.
The
government has come under pressure to release the documents immediately and to
the public, with the cross-party Treasury committee of MPs writing to David
Davis, the Brexit secretary, asking for this to happen.
“The
document can hardly undermine the government’s negotiating position if it does
not consider the government’s desired outcome,” the committee’s chair, Nicky
Morgan, wrote.
The
climbdown came as Downing Street said Phillip Lee, a junior justice minister,
had been reprimanded for tweeting that if such studies showed the economy would
be harmed then a change in policy should follow.
No such
action has been taken against the Brexit minister Steve Baker, who said
economic forecasts by government officials were “always wrong”.
Ministers
have dismissed the leaked analysis as interim and incomplete because it does
not include the option of a bespoke deal with the EU, which is being sought by
the government but about which details have yet to be explained.
A Downing
Street source said: “Phillip Lee will recognise that the analysis was initial
and probably not worth commenting on. He has been spoken to by the chief whip
and reminded that it is best to air his view in private.”
Asked
whether the lack of action against Baker meant the minister’s view was official
government policy, the source said: “I will stick with what Steve Baker said.”
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