Providing EU nationals with a guarantee they can stay in the UK without a deal for British citizens in EU countries would be "unwise", the Immigration Minister has warned.
Responding to an urgent question in the House of Commons, James Brokenshire said guaranteeing the status of EU nationals already living in the UK could prompt EU immigration to the UK.
He said the future of the 1.2 million British citizens living and working elsewhere in the EU, as well as that of EU nationals living in the UK, must be secured as part of Brexit negotiations
He said: "It has been suggested the Government could now fully guarantee the right of EU nationals living in the UK the right to stay.
"This would be unwise without a parallel assurance form European governments regarding British nationals living in their countries.
"Such a step might have the unintended consequence of prompting EU immigration to the UK.
the meantime, I would like to stress that EU nationals continue to be welcome here.
"We have seen some truly abhorrent hate crimes perpetrated against EU nationals in the past week or so.
"We will not stand for these kinds of attacks, they must be and will be tackled in the strongest possible terms."
Earlier on Monday, a spokesman for the Prime Minister said the future for EU nationals in the UK were part of a "whole range of issues that will need to be addressed" after the UK leaves.
He said: "Those are the consequences of a decision to leave the EU.
This is not something we've shied away from.
"We were clear in advance of the referendum that it was an issue.
"The decision will be for the next Prime Minister and part of the discussions about how the UK leaves the European Union and what relationship we have with it in the future."
Former London mayor and Leave campaign leader Boris Johnson called for the Government to make a clear statement immediately stating that EU nationals already in Britain would not be affected by the Brexit vote.
Conservative leadership candidate Andrea Leadsom said she would not use EU citizens in the UK as "bargaining chips" and promised their rights should be preserved.
But rival Dr Liam Fox said immigration was key to any Brexit deal with the EU.
He said: "I do not believe that you need to be in the single market to sell into the single market.
"And if the price of the relationship with the single market is free movement of people, it's a price I'm not willing to pay."
There are around three million non-British EU citizens living in the UK, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures from August 2015.
That is around 5% of the UK population.
No comments:
Post a Comment