By Ben Kerrigan-
Prime minister, Theresa May will send an email directly to 100,000 EU citizens to offer them reassurance .
She is poised to tell EU citizens that she couldn’t be clearer in her message that EU citizens living lawfully in the UK today will be able to stay.”
Her appeal comes ahead of her trip to Brussels on Thursday for an important EU summit to decide whether the Brexit negotiations have sufficiently progressed on the issue of EU citizens rights, Northern Ireland, and financial obligations to proceed to talks about trade.
May plans to tell EU citizens that the government and the EU are within “touching distance” of an agreement on citizens rights.
The message to be sent to those who have signed up to a Home Office list for updates will also promise EU nationals a special new “user group” to give them a say over the process for applying for settled status.
“When we started this process, some accused us of treating EU nationals as bargaining chips. Nothing could have been further from the truth,” the message will say.
“EU citizens who have made their lives in the UK have made a huge contribution to our country. And we want them and their families to stay. I couldn’t be clearer: EU citizens living lawfully in the UK today will be able to stay.”
“I know there is real anxiety about how the agreement will be implemented. People are concerned that the process will be complicated and bureaucratic, and will put up hurdles that are difficult to overcome. I want to provide reassurance here too,” she will say.
“We are developing a streamlined digital process for those applying for settled status in the UK in the future. This process will be designed with users in mind, and we will engage with them every step of the way.”
Theresa May is also expected to commit to dropping requirements for EU citizens to demonstrate comprehensive sickness insurance as they currently have to under EU rules and to keep the cost of the settlement process as low as possible. The prime minister is expected to affirm her desire to see families of EU citizens in the UK stay together. May has highlighted the value the contributions that EU nationals make to the economic, social and cultural fabric of the UK, and does not want to see EU citizens feel marginalised.
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In response to the email, Diane Abbott, Labour’s shadow home secretary, said it was a “sign of panic by the Tories”.
“Any reassurance to EU citizens is welcome and must of course apply to UK citizens in Europe” she said. “But these are rights that affect us all and millions of people will want reassurance that what is on offer is a genuine guarantee of full rights as they currently exist, including the right to a family life.
“The Tories have been intransigent on this. No half-measures will be acceptable and some joint court of appeal will be necessary. Without these, EU citizens here and UK citizens in Europe may well vote with their feet and we will all be worse off.”. The move by the prime minister is heading in the right direction and should accelerate Brexit talks as Theresa My shows a positive hand in the Brexit process.
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