New UK Brexit boss warns: ‘We’ll send EU migrant surge back’

We may have to set cut-off date for EU right to stay, says Davis

NEW EU migrants who come to Britain could be sent home to stop a pre-Brexit immigration surge.

The warning by newly appointed Brexit minister David Davis came as he vowed to take a tough line as cabinet minister in charge of negotiations on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

In his first interview since being appointed by new British prime minister, Theresa May, Mr Davis said he was determined to win a ‘generous settlement’ for EU migrants who were already in the UK and for Britons living in EU countries.

He dismissed the idea that three million migrants from countries such as Poland and Romania could be forced to leave Britain.

But he said the government might act if forecasts of a surge in new EU migrants coming to Britain before it quits the EU proved to be accurate.

Mr Davis said: ‘We may have to deal with that. There are a variety of possibilities.

‘We may have to say that the right to indefinite leave to remain protection only applies before a certain date. But you have to make those judgments on reality not speculation.’

The warning of a pre-Brexit surge was first made by Mrs May days before she became prime minister.

She said: ‘We may well see people wanting to come here before [EU] exit happens.’

Mr Davis rejected Labour claims that by questioning the rights of EU migrants already in Britain, the government was effectively using British citizens in the EU with similar rights as a ‘bargaining counter’ in Brexit talks.

He said: ‘If you do it all together, nobody is a bargaining counter.

‘It is based on the presumption that they [the EU] will be rational about their own citizens’ interest. Which they will be.’

His threat to send new EU migrants home is likely to anger Brussels. Until Britain formally leaves the EU, it must follow freedom of movement rules which allow free access.

But Whitehall officials say Brussels could not stop the UK deciding to repatriate EU nationals if they arrived after a certain date.

One said: ‘Bluntly, the EU cannot tell us what to do once we have left.’ Mr Davis dismissed claims from EU chiefs that they would refuse to negotiate before Britain activates Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, formally setting the country on the EU exit path within two years.

He said: ‘We don’t have to do any negotiations, just find out where their interests are. It’s not the same thing.

‘When we sign up [to article 50] we will know the shape of deal,’ he added.

He also rejected forecasts of a Brexit-induced recession.

Freed from the EU’s shackles, the UK would become the ‘most open-market and open-minded country in the world,’ Mr Davis claimed.

A raft of ‘fantastic’ new trade deals outside the EU would ‘buffer any turbulence’ caused by leaving. The government is hoping to reach deals with former colonies.

‘Bluntly, the EU can’t tell us what to do’