Theresa May offers EU citizens the lifelong right to stay in Britain in return for free movement for expats
Currently Brussels is only giving Brits on the continent the right to residency for the country they’re living in on exit day
THERESA May has offered EU citizens the lifelong right to stay in Britain, even if they leave the country for years, in return for free movement for expats.
The PM told the EU Parliament’s Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt she was prepared to make the trade-off during a meeting at Downing Street last month.
Currently, Brussels is only giving Brits on the continent the right to residency for the country they’re living in on our exit day.
Meanwhile the UK has said that Europeans in the UK could lose their “settled status” rights if they leave the country for more than two years.
Mr Verhofstadt urged EU Council chief Donald Tusk to take up the UK’s offer as the best outcome for citizens on both sides of the Channel.
Speaking in Strasbourg the ex Belgian PM called on eurocrats to make a “decisive last push on citizens’ rights” in the next few weeks. He said: “Offer unlimited onward movement for the British citizens living in the EU27 in exchange for a right of lifelong return to the UK for EU citizens.
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“I was in Downing Street and they’re ready to go for such a trade off. It’s possible.
“Do that so at least for our citizens they have no negative fallout of this Brexit tragedy we’re living.”
There are 3.2 million Europeans living in the UK, with a further 1.3 million Brits spread across the 27 Member States.
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